any other town in the santa cruz mountains and this weekend it is going to be very, very wet. and a lot of people are working hard to get ready for the rain that is coming this weekend. we got crews that are working to clear mud slides off of roadways. also working with pg&e and the rising water of the san lorenzo river has residents concerned. >> it's coming pretty close to my mom's porch right there and we expect it to be almost right up at our house this weekend because it's going to get pretty bad. >> make sure the property is okay. i have a couple trees that are pretty scary. >> reporter: there have been and will be plenty of road closures because of flooding. this example is in gilroy. u.s. creek overflowed, closing christmas hill park. on the santa clara county side of the mountain this morning, i was driving up and there was a lot of following out there. the visibility was really low so

be careful if you're driving that way. matt keller, abc7 news. >> matt, thank you. crews in pacifica are waiting for the weather to improve before they can knock down this apartment building on a crumbling seaside cliff. the city council gave the go ahead last night to demolish the building before it cloopss into the ocean. the cliff between 310 esplanade has been eroding quickly over the past several weeks. it's going to cost the still nearly 220 nowadays thousand dollars to level it. it will be the third apartment building on esplanade to be demolished because of the erosion. all the rain has pushed the loch helloman reservoir. it is the only drinking water reservoir for the city of santa cruz and it holds almost 3 billion gallons. have the reservoir full is a good way to start the new year. if you want to track the weather, you can use the abc7 news app, look at live doppler 7

any time and enable push alerts. developing news in concord, residents of an apartment complex hit by a fire are waking up without water and fire this morning. 20 adults and 10 children escaped the fire last night. four units were burned. some residents had to make a harrowing escape. >> we had two different females who have been transported to the local hospital to get checked out for some minor injuries, and that's because they went out the rear window. >> pg&e had to cut off gas and electricity to four other units in the complex. the cause of that fire, still under investigation. a gut wrenching story is making national headlines this morning. >> four people are in custody after apparently beating a man and streaming it on facebook live. jessica has more on that from the live deck desk. >> to make matters worse, that man was special needs and i want

to warn you, the details are disturbing. the man was beaten inside an apartment in chicago and it was streamed on facebook live. the man's clothes were cut up, he was beaten and burned. there are numerous people in the video laughing and eating as the attack is going on and the four people who were arrested all just 18 years old, two men and two women. the victim was later found on the street. he is in the hospital this morning. there are a lot of new details still coming in on this story so i'm going to be gathering information for you throughout the newscast. >> thank you, jess. san francisco firefighters are being praised this morning for a first of its kind rescue at the 24th street b.a.r.t. station. a witness shared this photo with us. it shows firefighters carrying a rescued man up the stairs. now, he got pinched between a train and the platform, and thanks to rescue workers and some inflatable air bags, he is alive this morning. abc7 news reporter katie has the

story. >> they did an incredible job. it was a very unusual circumstance. >> reporter: san francisco firefighters responded to the 24th street b.a.r.t. stop to find a man pinched at the waist between the second train car and the platform. >> he was very fortunate. i don't know exactly how he maintained half his body above the area of the car. >> reporter: a witness, too shaken to go on camera, tells me the man appeared to be intoxicated, stumbling in front of the car as it pulled into the station around 6:00. >> he was conscious, unbelievably, still alive and speaking. >> reporter: firefighters isolated the train car by uncoupling it. >> turning the power back on which is a tricky situation, you're not supposed to do it but knowing where the victim was and knowing where the electricity was, i felt safe. >> reporter: then they used air bags. >> it comes out as a flat pillow, it's a very large -- they're called air bags but they're very large and they can

move 20,000 pounds. >> and they used air bags to push the train backwards. that's creative. >> reporter: before they could free him, rescuers had to make sure the uncirculating blood didn't shock his system. >> he gave the appropriate medication before we released the pressure so we could avoid the crush syndrome. >> reporter: firefighters freed the man in around 20 minutes. the victim is believed to be in his late 20s. in san francisco, katie, news. >> muni officials in san francisco are still trying to fix the system that tells customers when the next bus will arrive. muni next has been on the fritz since tuesday. the electronic signs have been overestimating wait times for customers. providers of the service are checking it out and officials say in the meantime, you can follow muni on twitter or subscribe to text message alerts. oakland's new police chief knows that she has a big job in front of her, proving herself to the rank and file while also reforming the department. this election of anne

kirkpatrick was welcomed by the police union. she brings 34 years of law enforcement experience to oakland and has a history of leading reform efforts and chicago and spok. leaders wanted to find a chief who could change the culture in the force. >> i don't consider it a mess. it's an opportunity. okay? and it's all about going forward. it's about going from good to great. >> kirkpatrick's contract still needs to be approved by still koun. that's expected to be a done deal, though. she's going to start next month and expects to live in oakland, unlike some of her predecessors. the city of pittsburg has more fire protection this morning. the city closed the station in 2013 after revenue from property taxes fell. home prices have since rebounded and pittsburg now has enough money to reopen that fire house. the fire marshall says they really dodged a bullet because

there were no major catastrophes during the closure. a lawmaker is proposing the move up the presidential primary. assemblyman kevin mohan plans too introduce a bill that will move the primary. it was decided before california voters got to go to the polls. interestingly, this has been tried before. in 2008, lawmakers moved the primary up to february but they grew tired of the long political season so it was promptly moved back. now your accuweather forecast with mike nicco. >> yeah, we've got a long stretch of weather ahead of us, but that comes in this weekend. let's talk about what's going on this morning. there you go. remember we talked about this yesterday, 10 to 20 degrees cooler when you wake up this morning, that's exactly what we are feeling here in san francisco, that means 44 for the cool spot, a will the of 45s, mission, castro, glen parks also h 4, head to the financial district, act 48 degrees, we've

got 45 from downtown san francisco, pleasanton, pittsburg, richmond at 46 along with union city, 38 in petaluma. still a little slick down in the south bay. let's talk about your commute. i give you caution because what happens this morning with that light rain. now if you're going to be on the water it's going to be tranquil today and if you're going to be out and about exercising, just dress warmer. now, these temperatures, they're going to be in the low to mid 50s today, mid 50s tomorrow but mid 50s to near 60 saturday. that's when the heavy rain starts to roll on in. i'll talk more about that coming up and also tracking thick fog. details next. seeing that up on the north end and then we just heard matt keller say he ran into that this morning. southbound 680 moving along just fine, no slowdowns but if you ride san francisco bay ferry, a couple service changes to talk about. they're having some mechanical

issues, that means several llejo trips will be replaced by bus service today. then those return trips to vallejo from san francisco, 2:30 and 5:30 also replaced by buses. alameda and oakland departure to san francisco, not going to happen. those trips are just canceled. that is due to mechanical issues. we'll take a look at some driem times coming up. a new restroom fight is brewing this morning. coming up, where transgender people could soon be banned from using the bathroom. >> i didn't realize how much further out i was. stranded in the sierra, that bay area man forced to spend the night in the snow and the warning he has for others. it is 4:39 but while we are at commercial, you can look at at commercial, you can look at yo

♪ when you recognize something isn't right, make the call to the veterans crisis line at 1-800-273-8255 and press 1. . abc7 mornings. >> all news. >> it is 4:42, an experienced outdoorsman is warning all of us that they can really get into trouble when bad weather hits. a search and rescue team found eric van wambeke tuesday morning. he faced major challenges after getting disoriented during a snowstorm in the hills of calaveras on monday. he is reminding everyone to always be prepared. >> i had a compass with me.

i mean, i had intended to have the stuff to start a fire. i had first aid kit. i had extra clothing. i was as prepared as really i could have been for just going out on a day hike, recognizing that having that stuff with you really makes a big difference. >> he says even on a short hike, you need to bring along emergency supplies. >> good advice. 4:43 now. two new states are considering controversial bathroom laws similar to the one in north carolina. lawmakers in texas plan to introduce a bill today to require transgender people to use the bathroom which matches the gender on their birth certificate. a similar bill was introduced in virginia yesterday. the north carolina bill has led to months of political fights and huge economic losses after musicians, businesses, and the nba pulled business from that state. now a live desk update. >> happening right now, there's a search underway in southern california for a helicopter that

went down in the ocean off the coast of san pedro. passengers on a nearby cruise ship reported seeing the chopper go down near the l.a. harbor but so far no wreckage or victims have been found. it's believed to be a helicopter that left torns airport yesterday afternoon, possibly with two people on board. the coast guard has been searching for 12 hours now. they are combing the coastline with helicopters and boats and we are expecting an update from officials this morning, so i'll bring that to you when it happens. i'm keeping an eye on the story. >> thank you, jess. federal investigators are looking at the speed of a train that crashed into new york city and hurt more than 100 passengers. this happened during yesterday's morning rush. officials say the train did not stop, and it smashed right into the end of a track in brooklyn. the train went over the bumper that was meant to stop it and it caused it to derail. many passengers were brought out on stretchers as you can see. the injuries are considered minor. the ntsb plans to interview the

train's three-member crew today. this afternoon, president obama will receive the first briefing on the classified report detailing russia's alleged role in cyber attacks during the presidential elections. it turns out it dates back to 2008. nbc's norman reports. >> reporter: days after president-elect donald trump doubled down on his promise to take down obamacare, president defend his legacy. vice president-elect mike pence met with house republicans to announce the president-elect is working on a series of executive orders to roll back obamacare on day one. to this point, the republicans have voted to repeal the law more than 60 time but still didn't agree on an alternative. house speaker paul ryan with no real answer when asked why not. >> you'll see as the weeks and months unfold what we're talking about. >> reporter: in the meantime, another ruined showdown in washington, trump at odds with

the intelligence community over russian hacking, tweeting supportive of fugitive cleeks founder julian assange who says russia was not the source of stolen dnc e-mails and continuing to take shots at intelligence officials. today, president obama will receive the first briefing on that classified report he requested during the election. trump will be briefed tomorrow and in unclassified version of the report will be made public monday when congress is briefed. janae norman abc news washington. the california state legislature just hired eric holder to prepare the state for legal battles with the trump administration. the former attorney general and his law firm will serve as outside counsel to the assembly and the senate. potential issues include climate change, civil rights, immigration, and voting rights. holder's fee has yet to be set but the state will make it public once it is. happening today, the 49ers will interview two members of the green bay packer staff for the role of gm. >> eliot wolf and brian

gutticance. each of them have been with green bay for more than a decade. yesterday, the niners interviewed anthony lynn and buffalo bills running back coach. more are scheduled for the weekend and next week to find a replacement. connor cook is set to start as quarterback this saturday for the raiders in their wild card match-up against the houston texans. his first action came from matt mcgloin got hurt on sunday. raiders head coach says it was an easy option to start cook, saying that he performed well when he played over the weekend. how's the rookie quarterback feeling? >> i'm just embracing the opportunity to go out there, have fun, you know, let it all hang out and prepare my butt off, do what i've been done all season long and just go out there and have fun with my teammates. >> the pressure on that young man right now. the raiders hope to get mcgloin healthy enough to be his back-up this weekend.

>> you can watch your team kick off right here on abc a 7. we'll have live coverage starting at noon on saturday with kickoff at 1:20. all of it on abc7. abc7 news reporter wayne freedman will have reports live from houston on saturday plus a complete wrap-up on after the game. and you know what? you might as well just stay inside all weekend. >> absolutely. >> i don't know what the weather's going to be like in houston, mike, but i know what it's going to be like here. >> that's a nice place to have a dome stadium, right, where they don't need it. we need it, though. from all that rain that's coming. we'll talk more about that in just a second. let me get you out the door with a little bit of a concern here in petaluma, quarter mile or less visibility so dangerously low. there on 101, 116, you can see mcdowell boulevard, western avenue, some of those areas affected. we have a quarter mile in santa rosa so that whole 101 corridor getting foggy. look how clean the air looks from our east bay hills camera. dry this afternoon. we have a little bit of drizzle this morning.

increasing sunshine so grab those sunglasses, patchy frost tonight that's how much cooler tomorrow morning is going to be, dry tomorrow and then heavy rain and windy conditions this weekend. let's take a look at our temperatures. today, right around 50 to 54 degrees, but tonight, some 20s in our deepest inline valleys, frost around palo alto, 35 in san jose. 37 in oakland, 38 in san francisco. that's pretty cold by san francisco standards. let's jump ahead to saturday. 2 on our storm impact scale. afternoon downpours, windiest during the afternoon and evening hours, looking at a 3 for sunday. what to expect, morning heavy rain, fastest winds, that's when we have our flooding concerns, our greatest potential for wind damage. 1 1/2 to 3 1/2 inches of rain. santa cruz mountains, 3 to 5 inches of rain. monday some scattered showers, another storm comes in tuesday, it's moderate and then tapers to a light on wednesday. talk more about the rain and the

sierra snow coming up next. you're making it sound just perfect out there this morning. just a little bit of fog and some wet pavement to deal with but nothing like yesterday's commute or this weekend as well. want to zoom in here. we do have a minor new issue, the onramp to westbound highway 4, tanker truck slid off the roadway there. i don't believe that is a blocking situation. i'm not seeing any delays but we do have chp on the way to the scene. westbound 580, starting to fill in, 32 minutes for you. westbound 4, 14 minutes, and southbound 101, if you're coming from the north bay, little fog up there but that is still in the green at 17 minutes. next traffic update coming just before 5:00. coming up, why living close to a highway may be dangerous to your health. filled to capacity. a local animal shelter is suddenly flooded with pets. plus a unique fine in the north bay, the safe police would like to return to its owner.

first, this morning's tech bytes. in today's tech bytes, thin is really in with lg's new tv. >> the signature comes in two sizes, 65 inches and 77 inches. the super thin screen is just 2/10 inch wide. no word yet on a price. >> also hitting its debut, a sleek new electric car trying to give tesla a run for its money. >> a 2018 farraday future. a driving range is nearly 400 miles. >> and carnival cruise line is showing off new technology that promises to dramatically upgrade its experience. >> passengers will wear a tracking medallion that will tracking medallion that will help crew members anticipate

hmm. [cell phone beeps] hey! [police whistle blows] [horns honking] woman: hey! [bicycle bell rings] turn here. there. excuse me. uh.

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. welcome back. in petaluma, the call is out for the owner of this safe to come forward. a city worker found it abandoned in a field around 10 # a.m. yesterday. police think it may belong to someone who's been the victim of a burglary. office officers us it appears someone pried off the top. macy's is closing 68 stores and cutting thousands of jobs as part of a reorganization. all bay area stores will remain open for now. the macy's in san francisco's stonestown mall is going to be

sold but then leased back to the company. the closings were announced in august. macy's posted disappointing holiday sales numbers. it's expected to cut about 6,000 positions in addition to the jobs lost by the store closures that will add up to about 10,000 people total. and east bay animal shelter is desperately looking for people to adopt after dozens of animals got dropped off. >> contra costa county animal services says 42 dogs and cats were dropped off in martinez just on tuesday. an animal spokesperson says the shelter is near capacity and it happens this time of year. the shelter typically gets 20 or 30 pets a day. this week's storm may have caused more animals to run away from home or being lost. >> the best scenario would be for this to be a double run, for that panel to be open through there and the dog really be able to walk back and forth but when we're overcrowded, they have to be half kennelled. >> the shelter currently houses about 400 animals and is trying to get the word out in hopes of

getting a lot of them adopted. i was really surprised to hear from the spca and mike knows this better than all of us, this is a really crowded time for all shelters. >> isn't that too bad? they say not to get them for the holidays because then they end up a lot of people returning them. >> wow. >> how do you return a pet? part of your family. that's weird. here's a potential rainfall for the week. 2 to 4 inches for most of us, 1 to 3 rain shadow hits the santa clara valley. here's what we're going to be dealing with saturday and sunday. creek, stream, river, street, parking lot, all flooding. debris flows from burn scars, downed trees and power lines. yesterday, not even close to what we're going to be dealing with this weekend. all right, today is kind of quiet. down in l.a., we have showers there. in fact, you can see at 4:00 this morning, the winter storm warning expired and it's a little quieter in tahoe. we'll have snow showers today but look at all that heavy wet snow for saturday, sunday, monday, and again wednesday. good morning.

and yeah, we're going to enjoy the decent driving conditions while they last here this morning. here's a look at golden gate bridge so nice and light on the southbound side and of course there's that zipper truck and barrier issues earlier this week have been resolved. i want to touch on what mike mentioned, some pretty dense fog in the north bay this morning so if you're traveling the 101 corridor between santa rosa and petaluma, the way to look at this, the brighter the white, the denser the fog, so down to 1/4 mile visibility around petaluma. slow down and increase the following distance. new details about that tanker truck that went off the road in highway 4. that's coming up. could traffic pollution increase your risk of dementia? a new study found that people living about 160 feet from a major roadway had a 7% greater risk of developing dementia. the farther away, the lower risk. scientists caution they have not english established a cause yet. this is simply a link.

previous research, though, has suggested that exposure to air pollution as well as traffic noise could increase nerve degeneration in the brain. important information if you have a cat. jmsmucker is recalling some foods that contain low levels of vitamin b 1. that's something essential for cats. the affected cat foods are 9 lives, special kitty and ever pet. deficiency of thiamine can lead to weight loss and extreme cases neurological damage. no illness is connected to this recall have been reported. you can go to abc7news.com and 7 on your side for more information. bay area police unions are demanding the removal of a mural on capitol hill. coming up next why they say it is offensive to officers. also, what this man did inside a bay area fast food restaurant that has police on the hunt for him this morning. plus, i have breaking news coming into our live desk, a

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