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tv   ABC7 News 400PM  ABC  December 28, 2015 4:00pm-5:01pm PST

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abc 7 news starts right now with live breaking news. good afternoon. i'm dan ashley in for larry beil. >> i'm ama daetz. that breaking news is in the south bay. kristen sze has more on an accident involving a train with children on board. >> reporter: it happened in the santa cruz mountains. injury total, eight passengers are hurt in this frightening accident on a popular ride. the roaring camp railroads train crashed just after 12:00 noon after traveling north of santa cruz. look at the train's throttle got stuck after the train stopped when it was going to switch back and reverse. the operator could not slow the train down and ended up hitting a dirt hillside.
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no one fell out of the train, but some passengers fell out of their seats. as we look at their own video posted on youtube. news of the eight injuries, four were minor. they were treated at the scene and released. four others have moderate injuries. they were taken to dominican hospital in santa cruz including that young child you were talking about, we hear was 4 or 5 years old. the train has been brought back to the station while the investigation continues. that's the latest from the newsroom. >> more breaking news. this in sonoma county where a persistent elephant seal is causing traffic problems on highway 37. earlier this afternoon the large mammal crawled on to the highway. you can see it brought traffic to an absolute crawl, people not wanting to hit it, obviously. wildlife rescue crews coaxed that elephant seal back into the water, but it keeps trying to cross the road. the chp tweeted this photo of the crew using wooden boards to block it from the road.
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they'll remain there to make sure it stays out of traffic. people in discovery bay are feeling pretty hot about being cold. pg&e is going door to door to restore gas service to thousands. if you aren't home, you can't get heat. matt keller has the story from discovery bay. >> reporter: what a sweet sound that is in discovery bay. 6200 hopes lost their natural gas service some time in the morning. the temperature inside just 59 degrees. when was the last time you wore a scarf inside? >> it's been a while. >> reporter: this morning pg&e sent out a fleet of about 200 gas service representatives heading to every house without gas. turning it on, checking pilot lights, doing safety checks and making sure everything works. one problem when you send out workers during normal working hours, many people aren't home during the day. pg&e needs you there to turn the
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gas back on. they're leaving these flyers on doors and ask you to call them when you're home. pg&e is checking the cause of the outage, seeing if the cold, wet weather had anything to do with it. boy, was it cold this morning. now pg&e is feeling heat. >> use electricity. they're making a ton of money there. they their response has been poor but they expect to be paid every month. >> reporter: some families are at the warming center here at the school. they are planning on closing the warming center for a few hours this afternoon but opening it back up in the evening for people when they get off of work. in discovery bay, matt keller, abc 7 news. it was really cold out there this morning. how long will the temperatures stay that cold? >> meteorologist sandhya patel has the update. >> a couple of cold days ahead for not only discovery bay but the rest of the bay area.
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you'll notice we have a few clouds around. they'll move out of the picture and those temperatures are going to drop. they drop this morning in the low to upper 30s for our coldest inland valleys. below freezing in fairfield, 31 degrees. now, discovery bay, you are going to see your temperatures plunge as we head towards the early morning hours down near freezing. 32 degrees. freezing at 5:00 a.m. staying right at freezing at 7:00 a.m. i hope those folks will get a little bit of warmer weather ahead. exploratorium camera showing you blue skies right now. mostly clear and chilly this evening, 40s. if you're stepping out tonight, cold and frosty. tomorrow morning low 40s. for the afternoon, it is going to be crisp, sunny and cool. temperatures in the low to mid-50s. when i come back, i'll let you know if there are any rain chances as we get closer to new year's eve. an overnight fire killed two
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people inside an abandoned apartment building in clupd. authorities discovered the bodies of a man and woman in the bottom unit of a four flat near the coliseum. >> just sad because i'm in a situation where it's sad to see people try to stay warm and end up being hurt behind it. >> neighbors say they aren't surprised by the incident. there have been two previous fires in the building this year. and they say they've seen up to six squatters at a time around the building, mostly on cold nights. a stolen christmas for seven san jose state students after someone broke into their house and took holiday gifts and other valuables. it happened friday at a house near campus. the thieves are still out there. they shared these pictures of their house that was just ransacked, as you can see. all seven women are from the central valley and work at least one job so that each can afford college. an online fund-raising campaign has been started to help recoup what has been lost. >> we come from like a low
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income family. and my sister and i worked really hard to try to get our family to a better place. it just was devastating not having them open the gifts that i worked hard for. >> now, one of the women has brought her family's dog. there you see it. to the house to help protect her and her roommates. san jose police are reminding people to keep valuables out of their cars. surveillance video from a san jose home caught a man kaying cars on the street before burglarizing the white one. watch as he walks over to get a rock to break into the window, but then fails. another attempt, though, and the glass shatters. he reaches in to steal whatever's inside the car, then moved to the street and walked away. when you saw that neighbor there walk out with a bat. take a close look at this. does that look like an explosive device to you? of course it does, right? the bomb squad responded after a man reported finding this device inside a bag. police evacuated a stretch of
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lincoln avenue. investigators say it is a movie prop made to look like several sticks of dynamite attached to a timer. it is harmless. a norwegian air shuttle flight headed to stockholm is back in the air. david prager tweeted this photo from sweden. airline representatives tell us that a de-icing truck clip the wing of the plane knocking a piece to the ground. they insist the incident is minor, no big deal. passengers switched planes prompting a delay of two hours and are now scheduled to arrive in oakland at 7:22 tonight. santa clara county has raised the age to buy tobacco from 18 to 21. the first county in the country to pass such an ordinance. stores will be required to post a notice of the new minimum age and ask for deidentification. someone spotted a mountain
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lion in el cerrito in the petraro avenue. the big cat was not being aggressive and was last seen running into a nature area. if you encounter a mountain lion, make yourself as large as you can, be intimidating, make some noise and slowly back away. >> still ahead on abc 7 news at 4:00, new information on the chain of events that led up to a christmas day shooting by b.a.r.t. police officers and a discovery of a body. republican front-runner donald trump takes aim at not just one clinton but two. new at 4:30, a landmark deal today to address one of the greatest tragedies of world war ii. let's take you out live on this chilly monday for a look at the san francisco skyway. as you can see, it's little a little sticky. and sky 7 hd is over some problems in sonoma county where
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a persistent sea lion is still causing some problems there and what's causing some traffic problems. you can see that cars
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walnut creek, burling game, campbell and all the bay area. this is abc 7 news. late this afternoon we learned more about the investigation into a shooting at the hayward b.a.r.t. station that's led to a murder investigation. sergio quintana is live in hayward with this story. >> reporter: as you mentioned, this is a story that started out as an officer-involved shooting on christmas day, and by
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christmas night, investigators found a dead body in the back of a u-haul truck inside that b.a.r.t. parking garage. and in the last half hour or so, the alameda county coroner's office has identified that body as a man from bay point. >> the gun was stolen and the vehicle that the suspect was in had switched plates on it. so we believe it was stolen, but we haven't figured that out yet. there are several other articles of criminal activity inside mr. gedings' backpack. bb gun, ski mask, burglary tools. >> reporter: that man is jason anderson, 40 years old, from bay point. the allameda coroner's office conducted a full autopsy today on him, but they would not release details on the cause of death because that's part of the b.a.r.t. police department's
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ongoing investigation. b.a.r.t. police have said that the suspect in this case, charles geding, a 28-year-old, was on probation for burglary charges, but they have not said that there's any connection between him and this person found dead in the back of that u-haul truck, mr. anderson. this is an ongoing investigation. we do have to have further details. reporting live in hayward, sergio quintana. now, to the campaign trail this afternoon and a big announcement from hillary clinton's campaign. bill clinton will hold his first solo campaign event for his wife one week from today in new hampshire. this comes as republican front-runner donald trump is attacking the former president for his penchant of sexism. >> reporter: donald trump now going after not just one clinton but two, tweeting if hillary thinks she can unleash her husband with his terrible record
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of women abuse. hillary clinton accused trump of sexism in an interview last week. neither clinton has responded directly to trump's new threat, but hillary clinton has reposted this video of her take on trump. >> we shouldn't let anybody bully his way to the presidency. >> reporter: republican rival carly fiorina briefly defended trump on fox news. >> bill clinton is fair game, but my point is attacking bill % clinton won't defeat hillary clinton. >> reporter: a flattering new pole chief nemesis, they found hillary clinton tops the list of most admired women in the world. a spot she's held 20 times. donald trump tied with pope francis for second most admired man in the world. but in first place by a wide margin is president barack obama. with just five weeks to go until the first primaries, political analysts say the biggest threat to a dominant trump would be an
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>> the mystique is gone. then it's a regular race and trump has to be a candidate just like everyone else. >> reporter: in an interview back in 2013, trump considered proud áo be a bill clinton friend. and the president's former infidelity was, quote, totally unimportant. in just a few hours the warriors are back in rakz looking to extend their home court winning streak to 33 games in a row. steph curry said he does expect to play tonight against the kings. curry hurt his calf last week and played less than usual during christmas day against the cavs. over the weekend, he became just the fourth basketball player ever to be named the associated press mail athlete of the year. more than 200 members of the saratoga high school marching band will represent the bay area new year's day in the 127th
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tournament of roses parade in pasadena. this is video from the march performance this month. abc 7 is with those members as they were loading on to a bus headed for southern california. for the first time in school history, the marching band will take part in the parade. it will be watched by 57 billion people around the globe. >> very excited. like this is the biggest parade ever we'll be marching in. we have the los gatos day parade but that's nothing compared to this. i'm superexcited.
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the plaza as workers ran christmas trees right through the wood chipper. before you put a tree on the thd off, obviously. as well as all the decorations. don't leave any behind. fresh snow made for a white christmas in the sierra and in parts of northern california. abc 7's viewer corey sent us this photo on twitter. look at all that snow up on mt. shasta. you can share your pictures using the #abc7now. we may share some on air and online. >> that looks like a postevi
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we see clouds around the coastline and the bay but they'll be long gone as we head towards the morning hours. in the sierra nevada we're seeing snow showers. tahoe is reporting light snow. but don't worry, travel should be just fine if you're heading up over the next several days, it will be dry. sunshine from our mt. tam cam and here's a look at the temperatures. upper 40s, san francisco, oakland. mountainview. former san jose camera just some leftover clouds. as you know we did have a few showers yesterday and this morning in a few spots. anywhere from 200s in santa rosa. mid-50s, low 50s fairfield, concord, discovery bay, 48 degrees along with napa, 49.
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lake tahoe camera showing you a snowy scene there. so a string of cold nights are ahead. winter chilled sun tomorrow and there's no rain on new year's eve. those of you heading out to celebrate don't have to worry about the umbrella. first thing in the morning, it is going be even colder than this morning. we're expecting some patchy fog in our inland valleys. 29 in santa rosa, down to freezing, vallejo, fairfield, concord, livermore, 34 san jose. you'll notice upper 30s around oakland. 40 degrees in san francisco. 36 in half moon bay. take a look at our only little blip where we may see a few light showers. it is going to be in the north bay. a very small chance. wednesday morning could slip down as far south as the santa rosa area by late morning then a little farther south. but that's it. clouds will linger, then we end up looking ahead at our rain chances. our next opportunity for rain beyond that will not be until
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really sunday going into monday. so here's your new year's eve forecast if you are heading out. new year's eve fireworks in san francisco will be clear, chilly, mid-40s, but you should have a spectacular view of the fireworks. you'll have to bundle up. high for tomorrow 53 in redwood city. san mateo. sunny downtown san francisco. 53 daly city. 51 north bay. low 50s, napa, novato. bright and sunny in the east bay. 53 berkeley, 55 oakland. inland spots staying chilly, 51 in livermore and concord. frosty cold morning ahead tomorrow. wednesday with the cloud cover, temperatures will come up just slightly, but we're still expecting some cold mornings for new year's eve morning, new year's day morning as well. bright and sunny, then we head into the weekend. clouds will thicken for the second half of the weekend leading to a slight chance of showers on monday, but that system is pretty much heading towards southern california for
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the best chance of any rain will be in the southern end of our viewing area. dan, ama? >> thank you so much, sandhya. >> we'll tell you about the billions and billions of dollars it would have cost in real life to save him from all of the troubles he's encountered in the movies. a lighter moment for hillary. her afternoon in new york city with the family. and let's take you to the east bay live in walnut creek. you're looking at 680. cars coming at you are heading towards the sacramento area. you can see it's little sticky in that direction. heading the other way, not bad at all. >> you are invited to ring in 2016 with abc 7. a break for the news at 11:00 for a look at how the bay area is celebrating. then the countdown continues at
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well, obviously matt damon has made more than his share of
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movies where he's had to be rescued. the latest being "the martian." this prompted an interesting question on the website. how much money has been spent attempting to bring matt damon back from distant spaces. one user kr crunched the numbers and determined it would cost $900 billion to bring matt damon's fictional characters back home. interstellar, 165 billion. the martian $108 billion. and saving private ryan, $70 billion. >> a record breaking opening for "star wars: the force awakens" could soon get even bigger. >> nothing will stand in our way. >> the movie earned a billion dollars in global sales faster than any film in history. it broke the 153 million this last week alone in the united states. it also scored a record for christmas day sales and it did it without china. the film has yet to open in china. the second biggest film market in the world. disney owns the "star wars"
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franchise and is also the parent company of abc 7. >> that is something else. abc 7 news continues here. a fever problem. san francisco police want to end a marketing campaign for justin bieber on sidewalks throughout the city. the push to get rid of all this graffiti. that's big. >> and to the weather. the cleanup this afternoon after massive storm wreaked havoc across the country over the weekend. i'm kristen sze. japan offers millions to the korean women forced into sexual slavery during world war ii, but will it close the books on one of the most painful legacies of the conflict? >> the abc 7 news app, on the go, on your schedule, on one screen. all the weather, traff
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four people are rushed to the hospital today after their train crashed. they were on board the roaring camp railroad when the throttle got stuck. it couldn't slow down and hit a dirt hill at the end of the truck. it is a chilly day in discovery bay. thousands don't have gas to heat their homes. reporter katie ute es tweeted that they have a long way to go.
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still 4800 xherdz customers in cold. katie will be live at 5:00. there's anger in san francisco castro district where the already tough parking situation just got tougher thanks to the tech industry. reporter leon melendez tweeted this photo here. it says shuttle bus only. coming up at 5:00, we'll have reaction from people and metro transit officials. rains, ice and snow. a massive storm is creating dangerous conditions for tens of millions of americans today. it's the latest in a string of severe storms that have killed 47 people from last wednesday. lauren lister is in garland, texas, where residents are cleaning up after several tornadoes. >> reporter: a survey of the devastation from the air monday. >> some of these houses are barely recognizable. just a pile of matchsticks left. >> reporter: as residents on the ground try to pick up the piece, salvaging what they can from piles of rubble, from houses with no walls or roofs. these homes recently completed
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now reduced to scrap. >> that's it! that's a tornado! >> reporter: this afternoon a string of tornadoes blasted through a 40-mile swath of texas this weekend with winds of up to 180 miles per hour. police saying at least 11 were killed. the twister descending on to interstate 30 where eight lost their lives. >> just crossing the highway right there. >> reporter: he rushed to reach his sister's car there but couldn't save her. >> we tried. we had tons of guys trying to flip it. i watched my sister lay upside down. for hours. >> reporter: here's the storm that brought those tornadoes seen from space. it brought snow to new mexico. the governor declaring a state of emergency. in the midwest, historically heavy downpours producing flash flooding over the weekend killing at least 15. in missouri, floodwaters engulfed homes. >> oh, my gosh. >> reporter: swept away rvs and
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shut down major highways. >> this is the worst i think anybody's seen it over here. >> reporter: authorities are examining the damage from the twister, the worst here in 20 years. some 70 million americans are under winter alerts across the country. lauren lister, abc news, garland, texas. hundreds are out of their homes in york, england, because of the worst flooding there in decades. you can see how widespread it is in these aerial shots, just devastating. the government issued 24 severe flood warnings yesterday. prime minister david cameron calls it an incredibly serious situation. and he's sending more troops in to help. el nino is being blamed for severe weather in parts of south america as well. severe flooding forced 130,000 from their homes in paraguay. roads appear to have collapsed. argentina the had 20,000 evacuees. cities were inundated in brazil.
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officials expect full containment for the wildfire near ventura. >> this is video of a family driving right into the heart of the fire on christmas night. they say they came across no road blocks and no one stopped them as they drove down the highway. they were terrified, but they made it through safely, thank goodness. officials believe the fire was caused by arcing power lines. it has burned more than 1200 acres since christmas, but no homes. a landmark deal today to address one of the greatest tragedies of world war ii. japan agreed to make amends for forcing tens perhaps hundreds of thousands of korean women into sexual slavery. kristen sze is here with more on this historic deal. >> reporter: yes, it is, dan, this moment is decades in the making. today japan agreed to pay more than $8 million to support the survivor korean women dubbed comfort women. a euphemism for sex slaves to japanese soldiers during the war. japan and south korea's
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ministers finalized the deal. it's a xrom mize, one that drew new protests that say it doesn't go far enough and the $8.3 million should go directly to the victims for compensation instead of a fund that helps them. that's the feeling among supervisor. they voted to create a memorial honoring the comfort women after hearing from 87-year-old survivor. >> how could there be an agreement when victims are not involved in that agreement? i sense that there's an apology but there's not justice. that $8.3 million is to be placed into a korean foundation is a joke. >> reporter: but the u.s. state department applauds the deal as does house democratic leader nancy pelosi. here's part of her statement. for the women who survive, may this agreement bring peace. for the korean and japanese people, may this agreement signal the start of a new era of brotherhood. today's deal includes a promise
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by both sides to stop criticizing each other and to consider the issue resolved. even if there won't ever be for the now 46 surviving comfort women. >> kristin, thank you so much. the white cleveland, ohio, police officer who freightaly shot a black 12-year-old boy carrying a pellet gun in november of 2014 will not be indicted. prosecutors say a grand jury declined to charge officer timothy lowman in the death of tamir rice. video shows the rookie patrolman shooting rice just as the boy was pulling the gun from his waist. the officer was responding to 911 calls of a man with a gun. prosecutors say the episode was a perfect storm of human error but said no crime was committed. 2015 is nearly in the books, believe it or not. and it's been a busy and fascinating year in politics as the presidential race begins to take shape. >> karen travers takes a look at the political highlights from the past year. ♪
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>> getting in groove here. >> reporter: it's been an unconventional year in politics. surprising, surges, and one bombshell see ya later. it's crowded out there on the republican presidential trail. so many candidates they're doubling up on debates. the main stage and what some called the kids table. but the gop race has been dominated by one man -- >> i am officially running for president of the united states. >> reporter: donald trump launched his campaign with his signature bravado and immediately shook things up. >> our leaders are stupid. >> reporter: many thought the trump balloon would burst, but he's not only held on to his commanding lead, he's increased it, despite many controversial statements about mexican immigrants. >> they're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime. >> reporter: and muslims. >> for a total and complete
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shutdown of muslims entering the united states. >> reporter: his comments have brought harsh criticism from democrats and republicans. his supporters say finally a candidate who tells it like it is. ben carson had a brief jump in the polls before fading, now ted cruz is riding a strong surge into the new year. on the democratic side hillary clinton holds wide leave nationally, but some voters are feeling the burn. vermont senator bernie sanders giving the former secretary of state a run for her money. some polls showing him ahead in the key early state of new hampshire. the controversy over clinton's e-mail server dogged her on the trail for some time. early this fall she tried to put it to bed. >> that was a mistake, i'm sorry about that, i take responsibility. >> reporter: that issue sparked perhaps the only real fireworks in the democratic debate. >> the american people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn e-mails. >> reporter: the highlight on
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capitol hill this year came in september. when pope francis delivered a historic message to congress. that was orchestrated by john boehner who just one day later dropped a bombshell on washington, announcing he was resigning. >> i woke up and i said my prayers, as i always do, and i decided, you know, today's the day i'm going to do this. >> reporter: that launched a mad scramble among house republicans. conservatives threw their weight around, rejecting candidates to replace boehner. when the dust settled it was paul ryan who emerged as the party's best option to lead a fractured republican majority. and while it feels like a presidential campaign has been going on forever, there's still several weeks to go before voters finally get to have their say. karen travers, abc news, washington. a woman in southern california took this video
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christmas night. one preprogrammed a sign to say supports donald trump. the sign has since been fixed. a lighter moment for hillary clinton in new york city. an instagram user snapped this photo of her strolling through manhattan with bill clinton and her daughter chelsea and her daughter charlotte. getting out of harm's way with a little help. we're going to tell you about the scary experience this little guy had to overcome. i'm abc 7 news meteorologist sandhya patel. the last of the clouds from the east bay hills camera. right now when those clouds clear, it will get chilly tomorrow morning and frosty in spots. a closer look coming up. and the last monday commute or 2015 well under way now. you're looking at san jose, as you can see, a little stop and go in that one direction but not too bad on this monday. stay with us.
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take a look at this. this is the first time a giant squid has been caught on camera since 2004. divers captured this squid swimming in coastal water swimming in japan's taiama bay. they estimated the squid was nearly 13 feet long. eventually made its way from the marina back out to sea. >> wow. yeah, it is. a little koala is feeling
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much better this afternoon after a scary experience. >> yeah, take a look. here she is drinking water given to her by hand. >> yeah, the cute koala almost didn't make it out alive when a massive brushfire broke out in australia. she passed out and was found unconscious. >> tweeted this video, so glad we could help our furry friend. >> that was nice. it has been really chilly. i mean, it's nice, pretty clear outside, but just definitely cold outside. >> it is. meteorologist sandhya patel is back with the accuweather forecast. very wintry out there. >> some of the highs today only in the 40s, believe it or not. i want to show you live doppler 7 hd. not only chilly during the day but cold in the overnight hours. a few clouds, no rain. but we did have some rain earlier this morning. and here's what's ahead. it is going to be freezing and subfreezing in some of our inland valleys tomorrow morning. upper 20s. coldest spots. watch out for some frost. if you do need to head to work,
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you may be scraping ice off the windshield. more than double from a year ago with 52% a year ago, now at 110% of average. and as you take a look here, no snow tomorrow, if you're traveling, 35 in tahoe, 48 yoez night. certainly cold. los angeles, san diego, 62 and up north, eureka 48, here in the bay area on the chilly side. highs in the low to mid-50s for your tuesday. lots of sun. 53 in san francisco, san jose, 55 oakland, 53 san rafael, santa rosa mid-50s. i'll be coming up at 5:00 p.m. with the accuweather forecast and let you know when you might see some rain around here. at least a chance coming up. ama, dan? >> thank you, sandhya. still ahead on abc 7 news at 4:00, the city of san francisco says it's too late for justin bieber to say sorry. why officials are so angry about his ad campaign for his new
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album. and a prb for curious
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santa rosa, berkeley and all the bay area.
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this is abc 7 news. the man once known as the cro clown prince of basketball has died. meadowlark lemon passed away yesterday in arizona. he joined the trotters in 1954 and played over 24 years. he was famous for his half-court hook shots and pioneered a routine where he doused a referee with a bucket of water and then threw another bucket at the fans filled with confetti. >> he was iconic. don shula is a happy man. this picture of he and family members celebrating appeared on twitter yesterday after the carolina panthers' bid for an undefeated season came to an end. interesting to note that shula's son mike is the offensive coordinator for the panthers, who are now 14-1. you can watch college football semifinals on espn new year's eve.
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at 1:00 fourth ranked takes on clemson. then at 5:00, number three michigan state plays number two alabama in the cotton bowl classic at at&t stadium in arlington, texas. it all leads up to the national championship game january 11th on espn. it's been a happy holiday season for u.s. retailer. the mastercard spending pulse report says retail sales grew nearly 8% this year. the biggest winners were furniture sellers and e-commerce, both with double digit growth. online sales jumped 20% over last year. women's apparel also did well. fitbit, the san francisco-basedmaker shares of the stock climbed after reports of strong holiday sales. fitbit's app rank number two in the free apps category on apple story today and first on christmas day. one report says fitbit sold
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nearly 5 million wearables in the third quarter, up 106% from the same period just a year ago. science may soon be able to cure your sweet tooth. >> you might want to think about cleaning your coffeemaker. >> here's jane king with today's wellness report. >> scientists may be one step closer to curing a sweet tooth. researchers have identified a hormone that suppresses sugar cravings in mice. the study could eventually help diabetes, the obese and perhaps anyone who indulges in too many sweets over the holidays. unfortunately, the hormone doesn't suppress cravings for carbohydrates like cake. we eat too fast. researchers in both japan and the united states combined 23 different studies, and they found a link between obesity and eating speed. but unfortunately didn't find an ideal time for how long you should chew before you swallow. now, most of us love coffee, but our coffeemakers also need some love from time to time.
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a team of spannic microbiologists found a high percentage of java machines were packed with bacteria. they suggest cleaning the coffee machine regularly with a clean damp cloth. get ready to hear more about the dna diet. by 2020 a genome-specific diet would help people lose weight even if they tried various plans with no success. the couch potatoes note to the dna diet alone will not make you lose weight. you still have to exercise. from the nasdaq, i'm jane king. here's to your health. to parents of toddlers this holiday season especially if grandma and grandpa are visiting. they should be reminded to keep their prescription drugs out of the hands of children. they conducted an experiment with preschoolers. it took just just seconds to open the containers which are very enticing to youngsters. >> use them for storage of, you know, toys or small trinkets or for arts and crafts.
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then when they see that, they're curious and they put things in their mouth. >> the chances of kids getting into medication is real. in 2012 more than 64,000 children under 5 went to an emergency room for medicine poisoning and in many cases it belonged to a parent or grandparent. check this place out. abc 7 was at the playland, not at the beach in el cerrito, for the special holiday exhibit. the toy trains, miniature christmas village and holiday lights are all built by volunteers. the museum is usually only open on weekends but this week it is open every day for holiday visitors. that's really special. >> yeah. abc 7 news at 4:00 does continue. whether are you now, justin bieber? next san francisco authorities want to talk to bieber's representatives after what they're calling lawless spraypaint marketing aclose the city. kristen sze is here with a look at what's coming up.
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coming up next, new perks for the silicon valley tech buses that are making parking spots harder to find. no secret tom hanks is a raiders fan. the special message he sent to a family of one of his local sports heroes. when it happen s where you live -- >> a flash flood warning where several fires bushed this summer. >> the abc 7 news team covered your neighborhood. >> out here in fremont. >> in movado. >> they didn't realize they were being overcharged. >> honestly, thank god for 7 on your side. >> you're everything. >> on the stories i investigate there's nothing more important than life or death. >> choose the news that matters where you live. choose the team that works for you. >> live from san rafa
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here's tonight's prime time lineup. "happy new year, charlie brown" followed by "rudolph's shiny new
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year." then the news at 11:00. justin bieber's latest album "purpose" is at the top of the charts but the promotional campaign hit the wrong note in san francisco. the city attorney said it's illegal. carolyn tyler joins us south of market to show us what city leaders so are so upset. >> reporter: it's graffiti. down here on the sidewalk. the city attorney says this is vandalism that shows contempt for public property. this is the guerrilla marketing campaign that's hit five lots in various san francisco neighborhoods. promoting justin bieber's album "purpose" which dropped november 13th. ♪ the city wants bieber's record label def jam and the distributor to not only say sorry but to pay up for the cleanup. >> i don't think that's something the taxpayers should have to pay for. >> reporter: city attorney
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dennis herrera fired off an angry letter today to the singer's representatives. >> we want their full cooperation, to know the extent of it, the individuals responsible for it, so thatty welcome get this taken care of as quickly as possible. >> reporter: his office is documenting the stencils which were spraypainted back in november. even the recent rains haven't washed them away. this one has been altered by someone who is apparently not a belieber. but no laughing matter for the city which spends $20 million a year eradicating graffiti. supervisor erin pesken is writing legislation to increase fines on violators. >> we can only charge the companies the cost of cleaning it up. so for them, it's just the cost of doing business. so there has to be some larger disincentives to prevent this kind of lawless behavior. >> reporter: the city attorney can sue but would like to hear back from the bieber's people. we haven't received a comment either. in san francisco, carolyn tyler, abc 7 news.
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and thank you so much for joining us for abc 7 news at 4:00, i'm ama daetz. abc 7 news at 5:00 begins right now with dan and kristin. and happening now, an unusual sight in the north bay tonight is causing a traffic mess. this persistent elephant seal goes off and on a freeway. >> another cold night for thousands in contra costa county. still no gas service at this hour, more than 24 hours after a massive outage. >> i'm sandhya patel. bone chilling cold tomorrow morning. we'll take a look at the temperatures coming up. they were just working so hard to better our lives for us and our families. >> and a grinch steals a holiday for seven san jose students. how a community is responding in a big way. abc 7 news starts right now with live breaking news. and that breaking news is in
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vallejo where a stubborn seal is causing traffic trouble on highway 37. it went back into the water but keeps trying to come back out and on to the road. >> the marin county chp tweeted this picture of a crew using boards to block the seal from going into traffic. i'm kristen sze. >> and i'm dan ashley. alan long is live in vallejo. he's on the phone. >> reporter: right now traffic is backed up because of that elephant seal trying to get back on to the highway. right now it's swimming around the estuary and crews are keeping an eye on it. now, late this afternoon, around 1:00, they got the call that this elephant seal was on the road. they had to physically remove it from the highway. a team armed with wooden shields blocked its path to keep it from going across. then they channelled it back into the water. now, here's a photo from earlier today that shows exactly what
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the problem was. that enormous seal blocked by the highway median. it was dangerous for her and for drivers. crews just wanted her to swim back into the estuary and into the san pablo bay, but they had little luck channelling her in that direction. >> unfortunately, she was 500 pounds of not wanting to move and that didn't work out too well for us. we let her get back into the water. we followed her, we parallel the shoreline, she appeared to be swimming out. we paralleled the shoreline to make sure she wasn't coming back on the highway. she did a circle and came back. so we're back where we started. >> what happens is every time they turn their back on this seal and walk away, she tries to get out of the water and cross the road again. and so right now they're monitoring it. swimming around in this estuary seemingly trying to jockey its way past all of the

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