we're not going to let it ha >> a symbol of faith stolen. is it a crime driven by hate or maybe greed? tonight, san francisco police investigate while the jewish community bands together. good evening, i'm dan ashley. >> and i'm kristen sze. thanks for joining us. san francisco police say the menorah was stolen sometime in the last few days. abc 7 news reporter melanie woodrow is live at washington square park. melanie, the community is refusing to let this ruin their hannukah. >> reporter: absolutely, kristen. religious leaders are asking people to bring smaller menorahs from their homes here to the park at 6:00 tonight to shine light on the darkness of this theft which some people are calling a hate crime. >> we're shocked by a 6 foot menorah just disappearing. >> reporter: this is a picture of the 6'1" hundred-pound menorah in washington square park last year. sometime this weekend with the jewish holiday of hannukah under way the menorah disappeared from the park before it could be lit

sunday night. >> oh, my goodness. it was huge. >> it doesn't happen that easily. in order to install it. it was a process. >> reporter: miriam showed us this similar menorah in her yard. san francisco police are now investigating, even suggesting recyclers be on the lookout for anyone attempting to sell large brass pieces as recycled material. surveillance cameras from nearby businesses could provide clues to police once the businesses reopen. people at the park today were outraged. >> that's just a hate crime period. >> the real energy of this holiday, taking these eight days to just pierce the darkness and add as much light as we can. the idea that someone wants to take away that light from us, we're not going to let it happen. >> reporter:is why show is asking people to bring their menorahs from their home to the park at 6:00 p.m. >> we're going to continue bringing light to our community and not letting hate or anti-semitism have its way. >> reporter: she's even hopeful

someone may bring the menorah back. >> we're open to miracles during this holiday. >> reporter: which is what hannukah is all about. melanie woodrow, aches 7 news. police are also investigating a pop hate crime until santa monica when someonep vandalized a synagogue. police are not saying they are calling it a hate crime yet because it's not specifically anti-semitic. >> just so sad that at this time people should feel they want to express themselves in such a negative way. >> reporter: the congregation has been targeted in the past. a month ago a man stood during a service and shouted hile hitler, if you can believe that and last year someone left a letter with a swastika saying get out of here, you jews. the family of a suspected dui driver has apologized for a crash that killed that driver and a 14-year-old boy. police say 25-year-old jessica

zamora was under the influence when she crashed into another vehicle christmas day. it happened on capital expressway in san jose. a boy in the other car died along with zamora. today a memorial is growing at the site. zamora's aunt was upset when friends left bottles of beer in her niece's honor. >> they don't realize, you know, this is what took her life. >> abc 1 news was at capital expressway when zamora's family cleaned up the bottles. her aunt says they have sent their condolences to the 1-year-old boy's loved ones. >> we're very sorry. it was a bad accident. she made a bad choice, and i just want to apologize and i feel for you guys just like we lost a loved ones l. >> the aunt made a plea against drinking and driving. she says what happened to them could happen to you. the holiday weekend ended tragically as well for two families when their vehicles collided on interstate 5 in the

central valley. it happened today near the highway 33 interchange near collingea. the chp says a bay-area woman on the i-5 closed the median and hit an suv heading north. that vehicle rolled over several times. a woman from nevada died. four other people survived, including her husband and two young boys. the bay-area woman in the small car and her son were not hurt. two people died in a plane crash in fresno today. it was taking off from the sierra sky park airport when it plummeted into a pond. a witness said shortly after the plane left the ground, it took a sharp right turn and just plunged. federal investigators are now on their way to the crash site. a fight between last-minute christmas shoppers turned deadly inside this target store in heywood. several customers got no an altercation 8:00 p.m. on christmas eve of all times. when police arrived they found a 36-year-old man suffering from stab wound. that man later died. police searched the area and arrested two men in their 20s.

no word yet on what caused the argument inside the store. the stabbing is the 13th homicide in heywood this year. raiders star quarterback derek carr is set to have surgery on his broken leg tomorrow and while some worry his injury could mean the end of the team's super bowl dreams, the team's fans and the man in charge are not buying t.abc 7 news reporter laura anthony is live in al immediatea with reaction from raiders headquarters and, laura, this is certainly, i love their optimism, but it's bad news. >> reporter: well, and according to odds-makers in las vegas, dan, the raiders chances of winning super bowl have now plummeted with derek carr's injury, but don't tell that to the raiders head coach or the team's legion of fans. >> right foot squeezed underneath and the quarterback is helped to the sideline. >> reporter: derek carr's broken leg broke the hearts of many raiders fans and while their team may be down, they aren't necessarily out and with a 12-3

record the diehards among them say the super bowl is still within reach. >> there's a lot going on now, you know. we're waiting to see what happened. we may still be on that track. don't count us out, you know. we're diehard. that black hole is serious. >> i was just praying and hoping he was going to get up. >> reporter: alfreda azaro was there in the stands at the coliseum saturday afternoon when carr went down and then out for the season. you're still confident. you think super bowl? >> definitely super bowl. >> i'm ready to go. feel great. >> reporter: backup quarterback matt mcgloin is saying all the right things, too, but it's up to the head coach jack del rio to make shower his players, his team do all the right things. >> it's about the team and it's about us winning and -- and it's not in any way meant to be insensitive, but the team does carry on. that's what we do. >> touchdown raiders. >> reporter: diego diaz is just 10 years old, but he gets it. you think they can still go all

the way with mcgloin? >> we're the raiders. we never give up. >> entire afc playoff picture just took a strange turn here. >> reporter: in alameda, laura anthony, abc 7 news. all right. one word to describe the weather we've been having lately, cold. here's a liar picture outside our emoryville camera >> you can't tell how cold it is. it is beautiful though, right? sandhya patel with a look at her chilly accuweather forecast. >> does look stunning. take a look at live doppler 7. skies are pretty much clear other than the wispy clouds and as we head into tomorrow morning it will get cold. cold this morning upper 20s, santa rosa and napa and down below freezing in livermore and right down to freezing in san jose. temperature trend. average low for santa rosa is 36 degrees and tomorrow you're ten degrees below where you need to be. yes, cold enough to make you shiver. 26 degrees, but those temperatures do moderate as we

healed into the latter part of the week, and into the weekend. we start to bring back the chill. i'll let you know what's in store for your new year's eve and newyear's day forecast. here's a hifnlt just may need the umbrellas. >> good hint, thank you. president-elect donald trump is one day closer to taking office, and the work continues to fill his cabinet. >> he's already trying to put out potential fires on both the domestic and international front. abc news reporter kenneth moten has the late now from washington. >> reporter: this week it's back to work for donald trump and his transition. after a christmas church service standing ovation, the president-elect is still celebrating hot days in south florida. not even sworn in yet, and he's already weighing in on foreign policy. both trump and israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu upset over the white house's decision to allow a u.n. resolution condemning israel's expansion of settlements. >> i look forward to working with those friends and with the new administration when he takes

office next month. >> reporter: the obama administration pushed back against trump on cnn. >> after january 20th he'll be responsible for the conduct of american policy. july january 20th president obama is. that's how it works. one president at a time. >> reporter: but a pm prump will walk into the office at a popularity low. trump's at 42% as he continues to deal with his business interests and his family foundation which he promised to dissolve. new york's attorney general says that won't happen right away since his office is still investigating concerns about how the foundation collected and gave out money. >> i think donald trump and many of his staff understand the thank would most likely anchor down donald trump with problems is all of the conflicts related to his business and the foundation. he's figured that out. >> reporter: trump's newly appointed white house communications director has already backed out of the job two days after the announcement. transition spokesman jason miller says he needs to put his family first. kenneth moten, abc news

washington. japan's prime minister is on his way to hawaii to meet with president obama at pearl harbor. premier shinzo abe left tokyo this morning hand will be the fourth japanese leader to go to pearl harbor, but he'll be the first have-to-visit the "uss arizona memorial." this mount marked the 57th anniversary of the japanese attack on pittsburgh harlor and president obama made history by becoming the first sitting president to visitish mah, where the u.s. dropped a nuclear bomb in 1945 to help end world war ii. there's much more ahead on "abc 7 news at 5:00" including tribute to pop superstar george michael. >> how fans and fellow band mates worldwide are honoring the singer/songwriter after his sudden death. >> the no, no, no, no. customers unleash their anger after a holiday tradition is spoiled. why they blame a batch of bad tamales for ruining christmas.

>> and the best shopping deals of the season are yet to could. 7 on your side's michael finney is up next with the items you can still save big on. >> then the south bay teenager putting

fans are grieving the death of pop star george michael who died yesterday at the age of 53 of heart failure. people are placing flowers and other tributes at michael's homes in north london and in goring, england where he died. >> he was a true legend, inspirational, talented. kind, very loving person. michael started his more than 30-year music career pop duo wham and then enjoys success as a solo artist. former band made andrew ridgley

says he was, quote, heartbroken at the logs of my beloved friend and says michael's death was unexplained and not suspicious. "20/20" will have a full hour tomorrow night. "george michael, faith, freedom and his final hours" airs tonight at 10:00 p.m. followed by the news at 11:00. nun for that if you can. residents blame a batch of tamales for ruining a christmas tradition. customers vented their anger and demanded refunds after buying tam lays from markets across los angeles county. generations of families have relied on chain for more than 50 years to provide a holiday staple hand now they are complaining. >> they are not made right. i don't know what they did. it even gave people sick. >> people are waiting. >> we've been processing refunds all day long and will continue to do that tomorrow and do it as long as it takes to get

everybody whole. >> store managers say they are trying to figure out what went wrong with the tamales at all four of their locations. the holiday shopping season rush could become a ghost of christmas past. november and december adowned for less than 21% of annual retail sales last year at physical stores, down from a peak of over 25%. that's a $70 billion difference, according to the retail economist. analysts believe it will keep dropping. they say in general, many people shop for the holidays all year round now. >> those figures didn't keep bargain hunters from cookior seeking out a good deal and bargain shopt shoppers knew getting up early was worth it getting up early. >> they showed us they weren't returning gifts as much as they were buying more. >> and instead of packing up the christmas decorations, these shoppers are stocking up on them. the deals today just too good for many of them to resist. >> this store was full of

shoppers ready to suffer for the sales. >> when we open up doors today at 7:00 a.m., an early opening for us, hundreds of people outside even though it was freezing outside coming in hand looking north deals. >> anna marie martin and her daughter were among the early birds. >> woke me up at 6:30 in the morning. >> mom, we have to get to target and it opens at 7:00. oh, shoot. >> your e-mail in box was probably full of alerts telling you about today's markdowns. experts say it actually pays to get off your phone and go to the store. >> we're talking about online sales growing twice as much so the inventory online may be lean, but in the malls, in the brick and mortar retailers, they are itchy today to get rid of extra inventory which means sales. >> there were people at target doing some returns but retailers say the tradition of this day has changed. >> today is a huge day so it's a big, big sales day and always talk about it's a big return day and from a sales perspective it's a big day. >> obviously a little chaotic and everyone was just kind of

like in that, but other than that, it was pretty good. sales pretty good. 50% off. can't both that. >> and now shoppers just have to find a place to store all these goodies. >> all right. so what exactly are some of the deals out there hand when should you cash in on them? >> inquiring minds want to know. >> 7 on your side's michael finney is here with that. >> maybe these are the days people like me best. retailers brought in less inventory holiday season though there will be great after-christmas sales they won't last as long. sales that usually last until early february are expected to be, for the most part, wrapped up by late january. kip linger says among the best deals in after-christmas shopping will be 4khdtvs and prices will be cut by as much as 50%. however, if you're looking to buy bedding or exercise equipment your best bet is to wait until january. we're used to no-frill

flights domestically but on a long flight to europe, yup. foreign careers like legion air and lufthansa are doing away with free in-flight meals. no word that american airlines are planning to do the same but lower cost schemes seem to run through the industry very quickly so keep that in mind booking flights for this summer. want a free coffee, you may be in luck? starbucks in s giving away a free call customer drink to customers 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. eefrm day at 100 of its coffee houses. they are calling it pop-up cheer parties. the store locations change each and every day and are posted on starbucks cheer website. it once through and whatever you're doing, czech it. you might need caffein. >> thanks, michael.

a palo alto teenager is trying to help people walk to a better life. his eagle scout project required fancy footwork. >> this 17-year-old has some pretty big shoes to fill and some baby shoes to fill and all sizes in between. you see, he spent the past three weeks collecting shoes for the needy. >> i wanted to do a project that would help a lot of people. >> and helping a lot of people is one way he hopes to make eagle scout. when he started three weeks ago he had the ambitious goal of collecting 400 pairs of shoes. >> when he said 400, and then i said that was probably achievable within the time frame that he was -- he said. >> but things started a little slow so they passed out hundreds of these fliers at school and their donations really hit their stride. >> haul the shoes in total they added to 1,424 pairs of shoes.

this is the website. they hand out used shoes in all 50 states and more than 100 countries and pictures of what some are forced to wear on their swing helped drive his effort. >> on their website i learned how these people can't get the education and that's because they don't have shoes and that's a huge factor. >> today came the heavy lifting, packing up all those shoes for tomorrow's drive to a warehouse in fullerton in southern california and the group couldn't be prouder. >> he's worked his way up in the leadership positions and he's our past senior patrol leader meaning he runs the whole troops. >> that will help the young man stand on his own two feet when he goes off to purdue to study sglerg in mountianview, eric thomas, aches 7 news. >> hi there. everyone, hope you're enjoying your holidays.

a look at live doppler 7. a few clouds passing through the bay area and giving us the extra glow of the sunset from the emoryville camera. this is the after glow looking back towards san francisco. 51 degrees right now in the city and oakland 48 and half moon bay 48 degrees. live look from our santa cruz cameras. you can see it's pretty calm out there and a look at the temperatures mid to upper 40s from santa rosa to novato though it is 42 degrees and getting chilly in fairfield and one other picture from our east bay hills camera. freezing cold with frost in the morning and sunny and cool conditions for the afternoon with milder days and wednesday through friday. tomorrow morning, if you have early plans to returning some of the gifts you didn't want, just bundle up. look at these temperatures. mid to upper 20s and get yourself something else in exchange. definitely a cold one inland. around the bay and the coast. mid-30s to the low 40s and you'll start out with a few high clouds. staying on the inside,

temperatures in the mid-50s to low 60s and as we bring in our storm impact scale i want to alert the fact that we have potential for light rain. it's a one, chance of showers and less than .2 inches expected and it will be breezy at times. friday night it's fine until 11:00 p.m. right across the central bay and you're noticing the showers saturday morning and 5:00 a.m. it's still going and in case you have big plans for saturday night i want to take the time line through. saturday morning the few showers linger into the early afternoon in the south bay and on the peninsula and then by new year's eve you're fine. it's dry so you'll be ringing in that new year with dry conditions but don't put the umbrella away because as we head into sunday afternoon, another system comes in and it's going to be a fast mover, so sunday afternoon, north bay starts to see the potential for some rain going not evening. it's pretty much everyone starting out that new year and then for your monday, still some

showers are going before it all winds down. neither one of the systems look impressive to be hon est with you. they really look like light systems that will just bring us enough rain to dampen the roadways. a look at accuweather seven-day forecast. get ready for the chill. tomorrow morning and wednesday morning though wednesday morning won't be as bad. afternoon highs come back. low to mid-60s inland on thursday, except near the coastline so the milder weather conditions into friday and late friday night into saturday we have a 1 on our storm impact scale and chance of some rain as we head into sunday. monday, also a 1, as far as the abc 7 news app that will keep you keep track of not only the cold conditions but the rain and the rain chances as it changes to help you plan your holiday week off or work week off and you can download it for free. >> thanks very much. a shocking blunlder that

left church gatherings shocked. and then new at 6:00, we're going to take you to one of the last full-service gas stations in the aya. old school, right that and a lot more at 6:00, but

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and zero first month's payment on select volkswagen models. right now at the volkswagen sign then drive event. the israeli government would have greater control over what's posted on social media if parliament there approves a new bill, the so-called facebook law would have give israeli courts the ability to have social media sites pull posts that call for an act of violence or terrorism. under this proposed law social media providers would no longer have the liberty of judging the merit of each request in israel. critics are concerned the law would restrict free speech. >> britney spears is alive despite a hoax reporting her death. sony music's twitter account was hacked today and falsely tweeted that spears have died. the sweets have since been

deleted. lmt they apologized to spears and the phony tweet read rest in peace britney spears. sony music manages dylan's accounts. the lyrics of a church bulletin shocked people at a service featuring kris christmas carols in sri lanka. instead of traditional christian prayers and helms they found the hymns of tombiac shakur's hail mary printed on booklets at their church. the church apologized for this priest. a young boy working for the printer downloaded the late, late rapper's hail matter instead of the christian prayer of the same fame. tupac was shot to death, as you probably know, 20 years ago. >> coming up next, bringings the magic of the planet pandora to life. >> a look at the

come up at 6:00, so what's going to be different in six

days. find out what will soon be legal and what will soon be illegal when it comes to alcohol in california. and as the drought begins to ease we hope the fish come back. new at 6:00, we look into whether the population of endangered coho salmon has truly recovered. meet the performers that are a national event that can be watched right here on abc 7. all that have coming up an "abc 7 news at 6:00." you avatar lovers are in for a real treat at walt disney world in florida next summer. >> when the theme park is set to bring the world of pandora to life at a new attraction. the park released this behind robert kardashian scenes look at pandora, the world of ar "avatar" over the holidays. >> they will take this tour with bioluminescent plants lining the way. >> this will open summer of next year. disney is the parent company of abc 7. that looks pretty cool. >> looks like a plan to take the

kid. "world news tonight" with david muir is coming up next. i'm kristen sze. >> and as we come on the air tonight, extreme weather colliding with holiday travel. the blizzard on one of the year's busiest travel days. airport delays stacking up tonight. passengers stranded. highways shut down. and the northeast facing treacherous driving conditions right now. george michael's mysterious death. tributes pouring in for the pop star, found dead on christmas. the new questions tonight about his final days. trump versus obama. the war of words tonight. donald trump firing back after president obama suggests he could have won the election. state of emergency. the dangerous sinkhole swallowing an american neighborhood. residents forced to evacuate in the middle of a holiday. and go ahead. make my christmas.