good afternoon, everybody. i'm layer vee beil. >> and i'm kristen sze. officials are investigating what caused a major commuter train crash. one person died and 114 were injured. >> this was the scene of destruction after the train slammed into the hoboken station just outside of new york city. ray raimudni has the latest. >> a woman of hoboken, new jersey, was killed. ntsb arrived earlier this afternoon and right now they are in the train station trying to determine what caused this

crash. this video showing the moments after a new jersey transit train crashed right into this hoboken station. passengers in a daze and in disbelief, a morning commute turning into a disaster. >> it just collided and i saw a couple gentlemen bleeding. >> reporter: this passenger was in the first car which careened into the station. eyewitnesss say the train was traveling at an incredible speed as it approached. >> the train just didn't stop. >> it went over the bumper block, basically through the air, traveled about another 40 feet and came to a rest when it hit the wall. >> reporter: ntsb will gather and collect critical evidence to determine the cause of the crash. >> we'll be pulling the recorder this evening. we hope to get information such as speed and braking.

our investigation will continue here on scene for seven to ten days. >> reporter: the train slamming into the station causing major structural damage, bent and twisted steel, debris everywhere. over 100 people injured. authorities say two others with critical injures. >> bumps, bruises, walking wounded, lacerations and fractures as well. >> reporter: the woman killed was not a passenger but standing on the platform. the train engineer has been identified as thomas gallagher. he has been treated and released from the hospital and is cooperating with the authorities. investigators say they will be interviewing him. his account could be crucial in deermining why the train approached with such high speeds. back to you. >> ray, thank you. today's tragedy is the latest to affect the busy rail system in the northeast. you're looking at the last

derailment in philadelphia. eight people died and over 200 hurt after it was found to be going twice the speed limit. an engineer says he was drowsy when his metro north train derailed in new york city in december 2013. four people died and more than 60 were hurt in the early-morning crash. that commuter train was also going too fast when it rounded a sharp curve. >> we will look at which bay area trains are equipped with a special system to slow trains down. crews are looking at efforts to slow a fire that has charred nearly 4,000 acres and is 22% contained. residents are slowly being allowed back into their homes. chris nguyen is live.

chris? >> reporter: residents were able to return back home yesterday but those who live on the santa clara side, evacuations remain in effect. we're currently located on that side this afternoon. if you take a look behind me, you can see that fire activity, the huge smoke above and it is, of course, affecting the air quality. crews are doing what they can to get this thing under control. as crews battle the loma fire, residents continue to feel the effects. >> i do have asthma and allergies so the more i'm active, you know, the more my asthma acts up and then having the air quality to deal with that, too. >> reporter: sky 7 shows some of the progress being made. firefighters are cutting and cleaning up break lines to keep the fire from spreading. winds are in the forecast for tomorrow afternoon so time is of the essence. >> we want to make sure this fire is not only out in those areas so we can let the folks back in so they don't have to

evacuate before something blows up. >> reporter: students say the smoke has been noticeable. >> sometimes it's hard to breathe a little because you can smell the smoke a little. it's been really bad. >> reporter: superintendent steve batondo has instructed all schools to keep outdoor activities to a minimum. for now, students are staying indoors for lunch and recess. >> the kids are inside and get a little squirrelly and it's hard for them to sit inside. >> reporter: community members say it's a smart call. >> i see ashes on my car. so if i'm seeing the ashes, i can just imagine what it's doing to our health. >> reporter: many looking forward to taking a deep breath without the smell of smoke. there will be a community meeting tonight to brief residents on this fire. it starts at 7:00 at the loma prieta elementary school in los

gatos. santa clara county, chris nguyen, abc 7 news. >> thank you, chris. you can see the local clouds and sea breeze continues to cool down the area. we'll check our current continues, 77 degrees and relative humidity is rising. winds are light and let me give you a look at the 24-hour temperature change. it is 90 degrees cooler in fairfield and at this hour yesterday it was cooler in concord and livermore. you can see that all around the region the cooling continues. and that pattern will stay with us during the overnight hours. by midday, we look at temperatures in the low to mid-50s. a development of coastal fog. 7:00 tomorrow morning, we see more fog and temperatures in the low 50s. the day will get off to a cool start tomorrow. a lot going on in the weather right now. a lot of changes coming our way.

you can keep on top of all of those changes, advisories and alerts with the abc 7 news app. a san francisco man pled guilty to kidnapping a vallejo woman. matthew muller changed his plea as part of a deal with the federal government. prosecutors agreed to not pursue a charge of more than 40 years. denise huskins turned up two days later in orange county. coming up, melody will have reaction from family members of the victims. there was a fatal motorcycle accident in vallejo. the biker collided with a big rig. the one and two westbound lanes

were closed for 2 1/2 hours for the investigation. hunting down a possible arsonist. people who use the iron horse trail along monument boulevard have seen fires popping up. amy hollyfield has more from concord. >> reporter: look at this burning tree that came close to an apartment complex. jean davis took these pictures and shared them with us. firefighters think it was set on purpose. >> they evacuated us and i'm like, what is going on? i seen the smoke from my apartment and i'm like, oh, god, oh, jesus. >> reporter: the fire destroyed a car parked outside of the homes. this happened along the iron horse trail. firefighters say this is one of dozens of fires recently set here. >> we've had numerous fires over the last several months starting in the early summer months until the heart of fire season.

>> reporter: you can see evidence of fires along the trail lined on both sides with homes. residents are worried about their property, families and kids at this school. >> i'm more nervous because there may be a day when i'm not here and how am i going to get to my daughter. >> the fires have been occurring at all hours of the day and night and all week. >> reporter: residents are asked to be on high alert. >> just keeping the phone close, knowing that i can call 911, knowing that they respond so quickly is very reassuring. >> reporter: ugly spots like this dot this beautiful trail. firefighters saying they need everyone to be on the lookout if by any chance you stumble upon a fire and see someone watching it burn or leaving the scene, they say try and get a good description. in concord, amy hollyfield, abc news. >> one lawmakr one after

another ripped into the an employee of wells fargo bank for opening up accounts without customer knowledge in order to meet sales goals. the ceo testified that the people who knew about the fraud were not high on the corporate ladder. >> so far, of the people that we have found is branch managers, their manager in some cases and a manager of a manager. so that's the work we've done so far. >> wells fargo is also facing a penalty for illegally repossessing cars owned by members of the military who defaulted on loans. bloomberg news reports the bank took the cars rather than obtain court orders to do so. in a statement provided to abc 7 news, wells fargo said in part, "in those instances where some service members did not receive the appropriate benefits and protections, we did not live up to our commitment and we apologize". a wild car chase in southern california had people scurrying

for safety. a black toyota prius slammed into another car in san fernando valley this morning. just when you think the chase is going to be over, the suspected car thief drives on to the sidewalk and one person was pushing a baby carriage. officers were able to capture the man after he crashed right there into a parked car. but that was nuts. coming up on abc 7 news at 4:00, nearly a month into the school year and nearly 100 teaching positions are still vacant in san francisco. what's going on in the district? plus, the consensual consent app creating a big controversy. also a. hopeful sign for a dungeness crabber following a miserable crabbing season. into this is a live look at 411, a look at the san mateo bridge. eastbound traffic on your left hand side. that's normally the heavier

commute direction at this hour but moving smoothly. in fact, they're bringing crime, when mexthey're rapists.ople... are you going to have a massive deportation force? you're going to have a deportation force. we're rounding 'em up in a very humane way, in a very nice way. we're going to build a wall. that's not america. we're all californians. i'm tom steyer. it's time to speak out. please, register. and vote. vote. nextgen california action committee is responsible for the content of this advertising.

well, this is a problem that many school districts are going through. not enough teachers. right now, there are close to 100 teaching positions san francisco unified just hasn't been able to fill. abc 7 news education reporter has the latest. lyanne? >> reporter: larry, i would not want to be head of human resources for any school district in the san francisco

bay area. they have kbryet to hire 99 teachers plus another 71 teacher aides for a total of 170 vacant positions. as of today, september 29th, there are 99 teaching positions in san francisco's public schools that have yet to be filled. but the school district is making sure parents know this doesn't mean 99 empty classrooms. >> some of those are being covered by long-term substitutes or covere by people who would otherwise be in other positions. >> or retired? >> or retired, folks we've had to bring back. >> reporter: the president of the school board understands how disruptive this has been for the entire district. teachers do, too. >> i think any time a kid goes through the year without having a permanent teacher, it kind of sets the year off. >> reporter: the report says vacancies are mainly in special education and language arts. both the school district and the teachers union blame the

expensive rental market, making it difficult to hire and retain teachers. >> people come here eager to teach in san francisco and then realize they can't stay because they can't afford to stay. >> reporter: the number of teachers with credentials has also decreased in recent years. this has also contributed to the shortage. alex is a teacher's aide. there are 71 professional positions. >> we're having teachers working, being asked if they want to volunteer to work during their prep time. >> reporter: ironically, a few years ago, teachers were being laid off because of budget cuts. >> we need to develop a stronger teacher pipeline and support our teachers so they can stay here. >> reporter: in san francisco, lyanne melendez, abc 7 news. and abc 7 was at a program

to fight islamaphobia and racism. the goal is to breakdown barriers and stop bullying. >> one out of two to four out of five kids, muslim kids, throughout the country experience harassment and bullying. >> and it takes courage to mentor middle school students so they can feel empowered to be activists at school. >> reporter: san francisco mayor ed lee and george gascon say october 21st has been made know your classmates day. an app called sasie allows sexual partners to sign a virtual consent agreement ahead of time. information is stored in a database that only police or a disciplinary board at a school can access. people we spoke to about this new app, kind of skeptical. >> when you're in the heat of the moment, i mean, i'm not going to lie, a lot of folks,

they will forget all about the app. >> it defeats the purpose of somebody having the right to say no at any given point in time. >> legal experts say the consent forms would probably be admissible as evidence in a rape trial. a hopeful sign for those who make their living catching dungeness crab. last year was a total disaster. in the coming months, there's a lot to make up for. matt keller has the story from santa cruz. >> reporter: a busy morning in santa cruz. the wholesale fish warehouse sells everything under the sea, literally. well, maybe not everything. you see, last season, dungeness crab off our coast tested positive for acid. crab season did not start until

may. the industry lost millions of dollars. >> i think for everybody involved, it was pretty devastating, for the fishermen, wholesalers, retailers. to lose that in the wintertime is pretty difficult. that's usually what pushes you through the winter. >> reporter: but hope is on the horizon. the california department of public health just released the latest test results. it shows dungeness crab from crescent city down to monterey, don't panic yet, experts said it's normal for this time of the year. test results are a good sign that the season could be on track for you to have a crab feast for the holidays. >> it will be a nice welcome back because i know -- i'm a local. i love local crab. so just to see it back on the docks in the market will be very, very nice. >> reporter: crin santa cruz, mt

keller, abc 7 news. >> i'm getting hungry looking at the crab. >> yes. spencer christian is joining us now. a possibility of rain? >> actual rain. some light, actual rain. but we're in one of those unsettled weather patterns. >> here we go. >> a few drizzles last night. you can see low clouds near portions of the coastline right now. there could be some drizzle in there. we've felt the cooling effect at the coast. nice view at our east bay hills camera. patchy low clouds overnight. cooling continues through the weekend. this is quite a cooling trend we have had developed. chance of showers still on sunday mainly in the north bay. right now, we're looking at a temperature range from 55 degrees up to 85 degrees inland at brentwood.

there aren't many warm spots right now. concord and livermore. look at san jose, only 69 degrees. much cooler than most locations. low temperatures tonight will begin to drop a little as well. lows in the upper 40s in some north bay valley locations. generally, in the 50s with a few patches of low clouds and fog across the bay. as we give you a timeline, tomorrow, the breezes continue to be rather brisk and in the evening hours. most locations see winds gusting around 20 miles per hour. stronger in some coastal locations, up to 30 miles per hour at point reyes. tomorrow, conditions range from upper 50s at the coast to mid-60s around the bay and low to mid-70s in the mildest inland locations. here's our three-day outlook. breezy tomorrow and into the evening hours. sunny skies tomorrow. partly cloudy on saturday.

it gets cooler on sunday and showers in the north bay. we use the storm impact scale to inten intense see of 1 to 5. it ranks at 1. some spots see no rain at all. starting at 7:00 sunday morning, notice by mid-morning we'll see a sweep of light showers. the activity is confined normally to the north bay throughout the day and into the afternoon hours. perhaps down near the golden gate, there will be light rain but should be all over by sunday night. here's the accu-weather seven-day forecast. breezy autumn day tomorrow. high temperatures tomorrow and saturday, ranging from mid-50s at the coast to mid-70s inland. cooler, chance of light showers north bay on sunday. slight chance of lingering showers on monday morning and then it will start to get milder midweek next week with inland highs back into the 80s again.

>> i'd like to see some. >> yeah. >> there will be more. >> i'd advise keeping an umbrella handy. >> thanks, spencer. jumping at the chance to be the donald. if only for one night. and tesla back in the spotlight today. another driver is blaming his accident on the company's autopilot.

tesla faces new questions. in germany, a driver is blaming the autopilot for rear-ending a bus. the driver suffered minor injuries on a hamburg. >> mercedes-benz may have taken a big move to take on tesla introducing the generation eq at

the paris auto show. it features a sloped-back suv body with all kinds of technology, cameras instead of mirrors and instead of knobs and buttons, there's a touchscreen. it will sell for about $50,000. a chance to look presidential if only for a night. abc 7 news, the most sought after this year is the donald. the race is not over yet and you can see mass of hillary clinton and bernie sanders. you decide which looks more presidential. they are all competing with the usual scary stuff. >> for the most part, i don't think our sales for trump masks have been going to curiosity hounds. >> the spike in sale is no

surprise. that sends to happen in election years and even tourists from asia and europe have just been buying them up. >> many voters, i believe, would choose neither mask. >> they want to be scary. those are your best choices. just kidding. coming up at 4:00, one communiy wants to nix the housing part of it. why that's not sitting well with nearby cities. also, in the race for the white house, we're live in the one ohio county that's picked the winner of each presidential election for the last half-century. that's quite a record. and astronaut scott

here's a look at the headlines for 4:30. investigators are trying to figure out what caused a commuter train to slam into a train station in hoboken, new jersey. one woman on the platform died. 114 died and many were injured critically. the engineer survived and is cooperating with the investigation. there is a safety control on trains in the bay area that could have prevented a crash like the one that we saw today in hoboken. coming up at 5:00, which rail lines here have them. also at 5:00, the man accused in

a kidnapping in vallejo previously called a hoax pleaded guilty today. melanie woodrow has reaction from the victims of that kidnapping. in the race for the white house, hillary clinton spent time in iowa. donald trump was in new hampshire. another swing state. asking for votes marci? in many ways, seen as a microcosm of the country, it's no surprise that voters here are really giving a snapshot of the frustration and division being felt across the country. the key battleground state and this year, the fight in ohio is especially fierce.

>> the polarization of the american population. >> at 1812 in clinton, ohio, owner gets a taste of it all. from the arguments to election ex as sp election ex as sper rags, volunteers are working the phones in this critical swing state where 18 electoral votes are at stake. >> there's no state that is more important historically to republican chances. n republican has ever won the presidency without winning ohio. >> most recent polls show donald trump with a slight lead over hillary clinton. though, some believe the true indicator of which way the election will go may lie here along lake erie where voters accurately have chosen the president for the past 13 elections. >> i

>> reporter: he hears a common theme from voters on both sides of the aisle. >> i think a lot of people are unsure in this election. >> reporter: raising concerns about turnout in a state that will be key in choosing the next president. >> get out and vote. heaven sakes. >> reporter: and trying to bring in those voters, the trump campaign is reportedly spending more on tv ads here in ohio than any other state. and reports that the clinton campaign set aside $20 million for tv ads that will run between now and november. live in port clinton, ohio, marci gonzalez, larry and kristen, back to you. john kasich, of course, has refused to endorse trump. is that having much of an impact there? >> reporter: it's interesting. no one brought that up.

it doesn't seem to be on voters' minds. analysts say it could still have pretty serious consequences because of the way that's kind of added to how the republican party added to the fracture. but still, donald trump is fighting very hard for this state and he's made more campaign stops in ohio than hillary clinton has over the past couple of months. larry and kristen? >> thanks so much, marci. major league baseball player jose fernandez was laid to rest today at st. brendan's catholic church. singer marc anthony attended. the 24-year-old died in a boating accident. his teammates honored his memory by placing their caps on the pitching mound earlier this week. and thousands are paying their respect to a man considered to be one of the

founding fathers of israel. former president bill clinton paid his respects and bowed his head while standing next to the coffin of former israeli prime minister shimon peres. president barack obama and other world leaders will aend ttend t funeral in israel tomorrow. the 93-year-old had a stroke two weeks ago. and the flag outside of a federal building in san jose is at half-staff in honor of peres. president obama has ordered all flags to be flown at half-staff through tomorrow night at sunset. a tiny town has big development plans and some people don't like those plans. brisbane is really large and may not include any housing. reporter carolyn tyler is live. carolyn? >> reporter: larry, there are

four proposals, two with housing, two without. the planning commission is recommending zilch, no housing. that's what critics are debating tonight. it's a huge plot of land on the edges of brisbane. the property owners are developers who are building retail offices and more than 4,000 homes. but housing is not in brisbane's general plan and its planning commission has instead okayed an alternative that calls for zero housing for the thousands of workers anticipated. >> it's impossible to realistically just say, well, we're going to work on our own little problem. how it affects the rest of the bay area is not our issue. that's wrong. >> reporter: the san francisco housing action coalition is among the critics who say brisbane's plan is irresponsible, given the bay area's housing crisis. >> it's absolutely a legitimate regional issue and i'm confident

the city council are undertaking a very thorough and deliberate hearing process. >> reporter: fewer than 5,000 people live in brisbane and in a survey, 43% supported no new housing. just 2% agreed to what the developer wants. the bay area council representing nearly 300 of the region's largest employers is threatening to take brisbane to court. >> brisbane is happy to accept more office commercial development, which is great, but they also have to accept a portion of the housing responsibility that goes along with that. >> reporter: the final decision on the project may not come until next year. in brisbane, carolyn tyler, abc 7 news. a free music festival in golden gate park is one of the activities you will not want to miss. and it looks like it's going to be a beautiful sunset and we may have rain this weekend. i'll have the forecast, coming

up. and abc 7 is celebrating hispanic heritage month with posts to our instagram feed. today, we recognize former nasa astronaut jose hernandez born and raised in california. he became the first person to use spanish in space while tweeting. we'll all of this with the global warming and the - a lot of it's a hoax. it's a hoax. it'll get cooler. it'll get warmer. it's called weather. we need some global warming! we need leaders who get it. so that we can move away from coal and oil to clean energy. i'm tom steyer. if you want to do something about climate change, you can. please. register and vote. nextgen california action committee is responsible for the content of this advertising.

if you're looking for

something fun to do this weekend, we've got you >> chris isaac, winona judd, they are all playing hardly strictly bluegrass this weekend along with the girl that just wants to have fun. ♪ here i go going down, down, down ♪ ♪ my head is spinning around and around ♪ >> hardly strictly features more than 100 acts on seven stages throughout golden gate park. it's all free from friday to sunday. it's going to draw more than three times the crowd of outside lands. and they even have a daily silent disco.

that's a dance party with headphones. you can also get your dance on at a street fair this sunday. this is the castro street fair. and by comparison, a much tamer event of music, vendors and fun. this is their 43rd year and it goes from 11:00 until 6:00. to see it all, go to abc7news.com and we'll hook you up with hoodline. peyton manning is busy clearly enjoying life in retirement. he went down the great wall of china this week. kristen, you've done this? >> i've done this. that's the best way to get from the high part of the wall down to the hiking part again. >> it being looks like he's having a great time. according to espn, the nfl is considering a regular season game in china as early as 2018.

go peyton, go. okay. we'll start with live doppler 7 showing sunny skies over most of the bay area and then a few areas of low clouds have been swept away by the strong breezes and we'll have a mainly sunny day tomorrow with high temperatures ranging in mid- and upper 50s to mid-60s around the bay. inland areas, we'll see highs in the low to mid-70s. let me take you a little bit to sunday when we expect a little bit of rainfall and i emphasize a little bit. we expect a few hundredths of an inch. so these are the takeaways with this approaching weather system. it's a very weak system and will produce limited amount of moisture. the north bay has the best chance of seeing measurable rain from this storm system and some spots may see no rainfall at all.

heavy umbrella, handy on sunday just in case you're in one of those spots that sees rainfall. >> shouldn't be a factor for the 49ers cowboys. >> could be a factor for the giants game but not as far south. >> and last game ever? >> yeah. >> awesome. >> 67 years worth of dodgers. >> he's amazing. >> yep. coming up, we're celebrating all things caffeine. it's national coffee day, if you haven't heard. and we get a look at the secret production process at one bay area coffee chain. and a daring stunt high in the sky. i'm 7 on your side, michael finney.

because shevery year. ow that it kills 40,000 californians... because she doesn't understand what cancer is. because she can't spell emphysema. because she is a butterfly, who fights fires. because she is my daughter, and the surgeon general says that raising tobacco taxes... is a proven way to make sure she never smokes. that's why i'm voting yes on 56.

check out this playground in the sky above austria. this is video provided by red bull. four members of the red bull skydive team took turns on this mega swing anchored to a balloon with 400 feet of room. they were taking turns swinging and then they would jump off. and then they have the

parachutes. red bull is waiting to see if this stunt broke the record for the world's highest swing. it's national coffee day. abc 7 was in oakland today at a roasting plant. the company just secured a huge round of venture capital after cell funding for seven years. jonathan bloom will have more on abc 7 news at 6:00 p.m. motorists have been happy about low gas prices but now opec oil produces have agreed to cut production. >> will that raise the price at the pump for us in michael finney has more. >> that doesn't sound good, does it? >> it's not that bad. you may be surprised and happy to hear this. industry experts say you probably won't see a price increase for at least a year. now, here's why.

analysts say the market is saturated with supplies and inventory. the glut is expected to last through next year. also, demand for gasoline is going down due to electric cars and fuel efficiency. currently, the average price is $2.90 in san francisco. $2.70 statewide. we've seen many for-profit colleges shut down after claims of deceptive practices. students at that same school were also more likely to default on their loans. they take out 27% of those loans. students struggle because 40% never graduate or they don't get degrees that actually lead to real jobs. schools like heald and i.t.t. technical left many in the

lurch. you may still be dreaming about past summer's vacation. get this. one million americans have already done their december holiday shopping. yes. a survey by creditcards.com found another 34 million of us have at least started our shopping. it's not without some browsing. nearly three-quarters complain that the shopping season starts too soon. nonetheless, holiday displays are popping up already across stores. shoppers got used to hunting for bargains during the recession so we keep snapping up deals. i want to hear from you. the 7 on your side hotline is opened from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. you can, of course, reach me on my facebook page or through abc7news.com. are you two done with your shopping? >> haven't started it. >> i'm strongly contemplating what to get you, michael. >> i'll send you an e-mail.

>> thank you. in today's wellness report, high blood pressure may limit children's cognitive skills. and the fda wants to know what is healthy food. >> increasing number of children have high blood pressure because of being over weight. those kids are high blood pressure scored worse on several cognitive tests. that means the kids may have a harder time paying attention, remembering things and organizing facts. the u.s. food and drug administration wants americans to define healthy. they are seeking input for nutritional claims on food labels. the hope is that the new labeling guidelines will improve public health. the fda has approved the first offici official pancreas and delivers life-saving insulin as needed. it measures glucose under the

skin and hopes this relieves diabetes patients from constantly checking their blood levels. and aetna is investing in a medical pair it with specific apps to help employees and other members refill their medications and pay their bill through apple wallet. from the nasdaq, i'm jane king, news for your health. dan is here with a look at what is coming up at 5:00. >> kristen and larry, thank you very much. an update on the new jersey train crash and the technology that might have prevented it and why all bay area trains don't have it. also, it's a difficult task. michael finney has advice on how to manage funeral costs and make the effort to make funeral homes

more transparent. and the fate of those arabian horses seen from sky 7 running loose as narrator: it wasn't that long ago. years of devastating cutbacks to our schools. 30,000 teachers laid off. class sizes increased. art and music programs cut. we can't ever go back. ryan ruelas: so vote yes on proposition 55. reagan duncan: prop 55 prevents 4 billion in new cuts to our schools. letty muñoz-gonzalez: simply by maintaining the current tax rate on the wealthiest californians. ryan ruelas: no new education cuts, and no new taxes. reagan duncan: vote yes on 55. sarah morgan: to help our children thrive.

just a few months from spending nearly a year in space, retired astronaut scott kelly spoke to students. >> the best part for me is that flying in space and living there for a really long time is really, really hard. >> reporter: the 52-year-old kelly and his brother mark were both astronauts. in fact, nasa studied the twins to determine the impact on the human body. in february, scott kelly returned from the international space station where he spent 340

consecutive days. >> do you have a trash can in the spaceship? >> managing trash in space is kind of a pretty significant issue. >> reporter: now he's encouraging young people to pursue education and careers in technology and math and science. >> it's so important to our country to have future scientists and i think there's a crisis in this country with the number of kids that we have studying these kinds of subjects as they get older. >> reporter: it's a message these students told us they heard loud and clear. >> if we don't study it, then our whole society i personally believe will fall apart. >> does it make you want to study science and technology and maybe be an astronaut? >> yeah. i mean, having no gravity sounds pretty awesome. >> reporter: from space to berkeley. >> well, thanks for your questions, guys. >> reporter: laura anthony, abc

7 news. >> thank you

next at 5:00, a plea deal in the so-called gone girl case but it's not the final chapter in this bizarre kidnapping for ransom drama. also, a deadly train accident in new jersey. there's technology that may have prevented it. so why don't we have it on all trains? the extraordinary effort to help the four-legged victims of the loma fire. i'm meteorologist sandhya patel. i'll give you the forecast coming up. if there ever was a man who deserved to do life behind bars, it's matthew muller. >> a plea deal in a kidnapping

case once labeled a hoax by local cops. matthew muller now admits he did it. good evening. i'm dan ashley. >> and i'm kristen sze. a young woman, denise huskins, taken by force. her boyfriend, aaron quinn, left behind, drugged, the two initially considered co-conspirators in an elaborate plot. >> melanie woodrow is live in san francisco. melanie? >> reporter: we were live in sacramento earlier today for that plea deal in exchange format u muller's guilty plea, the government says it will no longer seek a life sentence. instead, 40 years. the judge will make that sentencing decision in january. today, some vindication for the couple vallejo police said made the whole thing up. kidnapping and sexual assault vi