new numbers show violent sex crimes are on the rise against b.a.r.t. passengers, but officials are vowing to make public transit safer, and soon you could see more police officers at your b.a.r.t. stop. thanks for joining us. i'm jessica castro. kristen is off today. happening right now, b.a.r.t. officials are meeting in oakland to talk about how to beef up security. it is welcome news for many, including a man who was recently the victim of a mob attack near the coliseum station. amy hollyfield joins us live with that story. amy? >> reporter: jessica, that

victim is here at this meeting. he says he wants his presence to be felt. rusty staff is fighting for safety on b.a.r.t. and for transparency. he was very disappointed to hear about the spike in crime on b.a.r.t., specifically sexual assault. he and his family were attacked on a b.a.r.t. train by a mob of young people who beat passengers and stole from them and he's suing b.a.r.t. as he fights to get video of the attacks released to the public. he's become a vote for the fight against b.a.r.t. on crime and we asked him and the police chief about the new crime statistics. >> crime is getting worse by the day. statistics report it, not just sexual assault and robberies and things are even more tragic. that shouldn't have to happen. >> i'm a big proponent of public transportation and want to use it whenever i can and right now that's changed. >> aggravated assaults are

actually down by a couple so the numbers are smaller when you look at it as a system as a whole as you would in the city but we want to make it as safe as possible for all the riders. >> that big spike has been in sex crimes. seven have been reported so far this year on b.a.r.t. property and all of last year there were four so quite a jump. another issue the chief wants to focus on is hiring more officers. he says he has about 37 to 40 openings right now so recruitment will be a big part of today's discussion. that meeting just got underway about half an hour ago. we do have a reporter inside listening to the meeting. laura anthony will be bringing you reports later in the afternoon newscast. reporting live in oakland, amy hollyfield, abc 7 news. >> amy, thank you. new this morning in the north bay a haz-mat situation shuts down a highway. highway 101. the overcrossing in novato specifically and it involved the off ramp and overpass at

atherton avenue. people started calling 911 to report a fire in the area shortly after 7:00 this morning. turns out the smoke people were seeing was a hazardous material. chp says four one-gallon containers fell off the back of a vehicle as it was making a turn. >> this chemical on the off ramp right now when it contacts with air it actually off vents so they were seeing the fumes coming off of the chemical. >> officials are running tests to figure out what the chemical is. they have cleaned it it up and reopened the off ramp and the overpass just a few minutes ago. new this morning, mission college in santa clara remains open while crews deal with a water main break there. officials say a small burst. they thought they might have had to cancel classes today but classes will go on as scheduled as maintenance crews work to fix it. fire crews are still busy battling a wildfire in saratoga right now. the weather overnight helped a little bit. they do hope to increase

containment even more today. the good news it's not threatening any homes. abc 7 news reporter matt keller is live in cupertino with an update. hi, matt? >> reporter: hi, jessica. we're actually in the command post, and they are talking to the crews right now who are out in the field. they also have a gray monitor here that shows where the fire was burning yesterday. you can see there's no smoke right now. no damage to any homes or wineries up here in the saratoga hills. firefighters are getting a break from the heat today and also a break from the drones. firefighters from all across santa clara county gathered this morning for a briefing on the eden fire at cal fire stevens creek station. the good news, the weather. the saratoga hills saw cooler temperatures and fog overnight keeping the fire from spreading. firefighters will keep digging around the fire today trying to increase containment. >> staying hydrated is your own

personal responsibility. >> reporter: they haven't seen a fire in a long time which means there's a lot of brush to burn. >> there is a potential for an oakland hills type fire here. it's just that we don't get that southern exposure and dry effect like they had in oakland so we're fortunate with that, but the fuel load is huge. >> reporter: most residents in santa clara county received an emergency alert to their cell phones telling residents on mt. eden road to shelter in place. firefighters say that was a mistake it. shouldn't have gone countywide and there was not a shelter in place. no homes were threatened. they just wanted to keep the roads clear for their heavy equipment. cal fire helicopter had to be grounded after a drone was spotted in the sky. that drone was captured. firefighters say it's illegal to fly over an emergency area and the person who was operating the drone could be charged with the misdemeanor. >> most likely this was someone interested and not following the rules. fortunately no helicopter

crashed. no people were injured, and we'll go from there. >> reporter: the fire spokesman wouldn't say they have identified the pilot of the drone. they only said they continue to investigate. reporting live in cupertino, matt keller, abc 7 news. >> matt, thank you. frisco police officers will be posted to the twin peaks area 24/7 after the murder of a movie location scout. edward french was shot to death sunday morning. he often photographed locations for possible commercial shoots which may have been the reason he was at twin peaks. police say the two people responsible were after his camera. those who knew french say he was one. bay area's best location managers. >> he could talk to anybody. location manager has to walk up to a person's house because a director likes the look of the house. knock on the front door and say to the residents, hey, can we bring in 60 people and film in here and have them say yes. >> the suspects are described as

back males with shoulder length hair and dreadlocks and a woman in her 18s. they took off in a dark gray honda accord with rear end damage. new details this midday involving a deadly shooting in minneapolis. a bride-to-be killed by police after calling 911 as her heartbroken family demands answers. here's maggie ruly with the latest. >> reporter: don damond was supposed to mary his fiancee justine next month. >> it's hard to fathom how to go without her. >> reporter: he and the family are left questioning why police would shoot and kill their future bride and daughter after she called 911 for help. >> we only ask that the light of justice shine down on the circumstances of her death. >> reporter: it was saturday night at 11:28, justine calls the police to report a possible assault in the alley behind her home. just four minutes later officers on the scene report they had

opened fire. >> there was no dashcam video of the incident and both officer's body cams were turned off. now independent investigators are working the case. >> i have the same questions everybody has. what happened? >> reporter: "the minneapolis star tribune" says damond came out in her pajamas and approached the police suv in her alley 100 feet by her house standing by the driver's side. the officer in the passenger seat reportedly opened fire through the driver's side door shooting her two to three times. sources close to the investigation tell abc news' minneapolis affiliate skta. the officer who fired identified as mohammed into, a 31-year-old two-year veteran of the show. he's had three complaints against him and tube are still open. investigators say no weapons were found at the scene other than the officer's gun. the officer's attorney released statement saying the damond family is in his prayers adding

that innoor help the community. president trump said he's disappointed by the failure of republicans to replace the affordable care act known as obamacare and now it seems gop leaders may lack the votes to try even another approach. their latest plan calls for calling for its repeal and then craft new legislation. >> it will provide an opportunity for senators of all parties to engage in a fresh start and a new beginning for the american people. >> make no mistake about it. passing repeal without a replacement would be a disaster. >> all of the new repeal and delay efforts follow republicans withdrawing their repeal and replace plan yesterday. happening today, san francisco supervisors are set to

create the office of cannabis. office will approve permits for businesses to sell recreational marijuana and punish violators. it will operate in addition to the permit process for medical pot dispensaries in san francisco. the office will also offer advice to city leaders as they set regulations on pot sales which will begin statewide on january 1st. a shopping center that sits empty is the center of a new controversy. the proposal on what to build in the east bay and what people who live there want to see instead. and a new incentive for uber drivers to get behind the wheel today. the one-day special happening right now. >> weather-wise you may have noticed a difference this morning. temperatures when we woke up up to 15 degrees cooler than yesterday morning. look what it translates to during the afternoon hours. as you can see the fog is back. we're anywhere from 3 to 11 happy ending for this

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call 811. keep yourself safe. welcome back. neighbors in pleasant hill are angry over a proposal to replace a closes shopping center. some say the land should be used for affordable housing. the car max wants to open a dealership there in instead. the area is another chilpancingo parkway and old query road. dorothy england for responsible growth says the city would have

to change the zoning from mixed use to commercial and that makes her worried about the regional housing shortage. >> all of a sudden when they put 100% commercial projects in an area that's designed to accommodate housing, we're not going to meet our share of that neat. >> right now pleasant hills city council members say car max's offer is the only one on table for that location. happening today, san francisco's mta board will consider approving plans to speed up the ride for thousands of commuters along the geary boulevard corridor. right now buses on muni's 38 geary line share lanes with cars and trucks, and the new plan calls for establishing bus rapid transit on geary boulevard between goff street and 34th avenue. as you can see in this animation we're showing you here on the screen. buses will use dedicated transit only lanes, including parts of the median along geary in the richmond district. hey, a head's up for commuters on muni's metro subway.

starting this weekend it will have shortened hours to make way for testing of new train cars. the subway will shut down on weekends and close early on weeknights for about the next month. at bus bridge will be available for passengers instead. the new muni cars should be in service by mid-august in time for san francisco's outside lands festival. and you'll want to plan ahead if you ride make way for construction for the san carlos construction village. it will be built between the tracks and el camino real. caltrain will be opening a new park lot south of el camino and cherry street. a symbol of faith for the catholic church's most well-known saints. why mother teresa is now the center of controversy. plus, baseball and root beer. the special event happening at

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welcome back, the oakland a's will kick off their annual 1th root beer float day and mike and spencer christian will b there. they will be helping players serve up the sweet treats at the oakland coliseum starting at 410:00. proceeds will go to the juvenile debutes research foundation. sugar-free ice cream and root beer will be available. they have raised more than

436,000 since the event started in 2003. we'll sell a lot of >> take a nap and head over to the coliseum, 5:00 you buy a mug and it's all you can eat and drink. $25 you can get a bob melvin-signed mug and the way to make money is through the mug sales and if you like the way we make your rot beer float the tips go. >> and go back and go back and keep donating. >> exactly. >> and i promise mike will make a pretty good root beer float. >> working on it at home. >> and the weather is going to be nice, right? >> typical over the coliseum so dress accordingly. by 7:00 it will be 63 but if you get there right at 4:30 it will be right around 68 degrees. it will be a little breezy towards the end of the game around 59 degrees. hope to see you there. so i was kind of joking with

people. are those class 3 or 4 rapids as clouds roll across the east bay hills and valleys. like to get on a pair of skis, maybe a jetski and jump that thing, if we could. that would be fun. that's what happened this morning. now down in san jose, looks pretty clear. it's going to become sunny. cool breezes for all of us. clouds and fog and cool lows and a slow warming trend for the weekend. look at these temperatures 3 to 19 degrees cooler than yesterday putting us in the 50s along the coast in san francisco and 60s around the bay. even 60s inland. 63 in danville, santa rosa 67 and 85 go n brentwood. the cooler air will get to you today. here's reason why. the northwest wind at 15 to 25 knots, a small craft advisory until 9:00 tomorrow evening, and then it's moving across the bay. from the southwest across the san pablo bay and the delta and west across the san francisco bay. a little faster up north than it is down south and either way it

will bring us cooler weather. let's start down in the south. you can see mid to upper 70s for sunny vale, milipitas and 80 in san jose. let's head up the peninsula. 68 in millbrae is the cool spot. 890 warm spot in redwood city. low 60s along the coast. 63234 downtown and 66 in south san francisco. going to the game tonight at at&t, 59 at 7:15 dropping down to about 56 degrees. let's move on up to the north pay where temperatures are all over the map up to low 90s around cloverdale and lakeport. 70 to 77 along the east bay shore and then 84 to 89 in our inland valleys. a quick lock at how the day will break down as we look back from emoryville. 50s at the coast and all the time frames in the day planner. dropping into the 70s as quickly as 6:00 and let's take a look at the lows real quick.

low to upper 50s. every day gets a little bit warmer and by the weekend we'refully thing with 100 inland and 80s around the bay and 60s at the coast. hot inland and i like that forecast. mike, thank you. other news, one of the vatican's top cardinals is not happy about having mother teresa's famous sari officially copyrighted by nuns. the religious leader tills an italian magazine it's, quote, absurd that taxes will have to be paid on her signature blue and white garment. mother teresa became a saint in the roman catholic church last year. the missionaries of charity and order of nuns founded by mother teresa to serve of the world's poor trademarked the uniform. a lawyer for the congregation says the goal is to prevent unfair use by people for commercial purposes. happening today, it's a good day to be an uber driver. for one day only the company is matching all tips. san francisco-based uber recently rolled out a tipping feature here in the bay area.

now it officially has launched it nationwide so uber is celebrating by matching all tips riders give drivers today and on a regular basis the company plans to pay drivers for time spent waiting for late riders and will also help pay for insurance. uber says the changes will be implemented within the next six months. right now we're tracking some b

b.a.r.t. is recovering from a blown insulation system. right now trains are delayed leading the city. passengers have been tweeting about hearing an explosion or some sort of loud noise, but b.a.r.t. says no one was injured and that there's no danger to passengers. b.a.r.t. says service should be back to normal sometime and controversy at court. this has nothing to do with this particular case. why the new building has people upset and also tonight at 5:00 san jose getting a brand new airline, and it's planning to offer fares for under 30 bucks so you'll want to tune in for those shows and one more quick reminder to drop by the oakland a's root beer float day.

>> right before the pitch for two and a half hours. all for a good cause so donate generously. >> for all of us higher at "abc 7 news at midday," thanks for joining us. "who wants to be a millionaire" is next.

>> you know, there's an old saying, "it's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game." but i have a feeling whoever said that wasn't staring down the barrel of $1 million question. get ready, it's time to play "who wants to be a millionaire." [dramatic music] ♪ hey, everybody, welcome to the show. are you guys ready to play "millionaire" today? [cheers and applause] our returning contestant is a yoga instructor who knows how to remain calm, but also has a flair for the dramatic. sounds like the perfect combination for a great show today. from scottsdale, arizona, please welcome back jennifer gantwerker [cheers and applause] hello, again. >> hi. >> come on in. welcome back. >> thank you. >> i didn't know the yoga part. i knew the theatrical part.