there were three of them which is unusual because they typically travel alone. if there is a time for strange sea lion behavior, observers say that's now. >> during the mating season about, now, which is tied to the water temperature, they get degree. i mean sea lion, actually. bigger, scarier, faster, more intimidating. people have been nibbled over the years. no one has ever been seriously hurt. >> that is until today. firefighters confirm this was indeed a very serious injury. bay swimming is not for the faint of heart. the water temperature today, a chilly 53.6 degrees. most everyone who has gone swimming here has had some sort of encounter with a sea lion but never like this. we'll have video later. >> thanks very much. >> how americans use the internet could be in for a dramatic change. the federal communications

commission has voted to repeal net neutrality regulations. this is seen by experts as a big win for companies like comcast, at&t and verizon and a setback for tech companies. >> this decision puts the federal communications commission on the wrong side of history, the wrong side of the law. and the wrong side of the amrican public. >> it is not the job of the government to be in the business of picking winners and losers in the internet economy. we should have a level playing field and let consumers decide. >> net neutrality required internet service providers to treat all online services equally, to keep them from charging more for some websites and apps. >> there is growing repeal. >> live in san jose with that part of the coverage. >> officials are worried about how this could be, how this could impact everything from public health to innovation in

tech. and they're not wasting any time in addressing their concerns. in santa clara county, officials are taking a stand. >> there's no legitimate basis for the fcc to reverse the obama era rules that were documented. >> the county council now preparing to file a lawsuit against the commission. >> we depend on free and open access for innovation, for growth. >> science profess or melody said the fcc's argument for a free market used to make sense during the infancy in the 1990s but that time has changed. she believes it puts more power into the deep pockets service providers. >> new entrepreneurs and innovators, they really need to have their share of free internet so they can contribute to the growth, the technology

growth of the internet. >> it is not just about tech. we rely heavily on web bas technologies. to communicate with the health providers in our county. >> county officials are worried the decision could impact public safety. >> when we need information on someone and we're in the field, we need it immediately for the that you recall of safety for everyone. not only deputies but immediately. >> people throughout the county beginning to pros what he it will mean for them county officials tell me they'll file a lawsuit within the coming weeks. abc7 news. >> thank you. comcast has been trying to calm consumer fears. the company put out this statement saying the action does not mark the end of the internet as we know it. rather, it heralds in a new era

of light regulation that will benefit consumers. a new twist in the kate steinle case. they want the verdict taken oeno on. >> reporter: you know, it's not uncommon for the defense attorneys to throw everything at the court right before sentencing, right? so in this case, they're trying to get their client off the hook at the state level with the hope of influencing the federal government which is now waiting to take him away. in this lotion for a new trial, the operative word. they want to show that he found the gun and while handling the i'd, the gun went off. garcia zarate's lawyers say for a moment, he held the gun as he tried to quickly get rid of it

by throwing it in the waters of the bay. >> the gun fired. at that moment he knew it was a gun. and as he threw it, he had this very momentary possession that they felt compelled to convict him of. >> momentary possession is not considered unlawful. but the jury was never instructed by the judge to consider momentary possession, instead convicted jose ines garcia zarate of possessing a firearm. the prosecution now has until january 2. >> we'll go from there. >> still, this will not affect his sentencing days, january 5, because zarate has almost served the maximum penalty. why ask for a new trial? because he's now been indicted by the federal government on charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. and for being an undocumented immigrant in possession of that

firea firearm. john creighton is a former prosecutor. >> i would guess they will wait until the issues are resolved at the state level. and then the warrant it would have to be turned oh to the federal government. >> and of course it means that zart will not be released l l ll abc7 news. >> thank you. >> preparations are underway at san francisco city hall for the memorial services for the late mayor ed lee. flowers still sit on the steps of city hall. blue cones have been placed around. starting tomorrow at eight lock a.m., the mayor will lie in state and there will be a

remembrance book for mourners to sign. >> who has he affected? everybody. he's affected, what? 80% of the people he's >> there will be a live brought cast of the service. the may offer will be lying in state and then a memorial celebration of the mayor's life will begin at 3:00 p.m. sunday at city hall. the destructive wildfire burning in ventura and santa barbara counties has claimed the life of a firefighter. the cal engineer assigned to fight the massive wildfire source on are thinking, they were actively fight go fire when a burnover happened. that's when flares

>> the winds have been playing a real factor in the fires. and here in the bay area, we've got some wind warnings. >> we do. and spencer christian is tracking all of it for us. >> we'll pull back and show you the live area of high pressure, still keeping conditions quite dry in the bay area. and of courseig we haveh fire danger in southern california until 10:00 tomorrow morning. we have a fire weather watch from 10:00 tonight until sunday morning. it will range from only 5% to 20% humidity. dangerously low. a flortss wind, 15 to 20 miles per hour. gusts at 15 miles an hour or higher. fires can spread rapidly. in addition to that, we have a wind advise order in effect during the same time frame. that's for all the elevations of

a thousand feet or hire. we'll keep watching you keep you posted. >> more americans than ever are expected to travel between now and new years day. aaa is predicting a record 10100 million. more than 97 million are expected to drive. a company that analyzes transportation data says the heaviest road congestion in san francisco will be wednesday between 3:00 and 5:30 p.m. >> a suspicious package forced the post office to be evacuated for a short time this afternoon. abc7 news was in one of sfo's cargo areas when postal employees waited for the all clear to go back to work. the san francisco police bomb squad worked postal inspectors to determine package was in fact

harmless. it is a blockbuster deal. what this deal could mean for you. plus, what was found and why humans weren't really part of the equation. neither sleet nor snow nor time of day. the postal service extends

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disney is buying -- -- >> the force behind frozen. the pirates of the caribbean. are and "star wars." now bringing in parts of fox's edgier tv empire including fx, nat geo and comic book franchises. >> throws things that now come under one umbrella so the customer can have more access to all of that premium content. >> others will be offered to fox shareholders in a new company. the disney chairman offering big benefit to consumers. >> not only will they get more high quality content but in ways that they demand. innovative ways. >> disney will have a major

stake in hulu adding shows like the simpsons. the master mind of the deal make it clear it is a move to compete with netflix. >> it beefs up what disney can offer when it goes live in 2019 and competes more directly with netflix. >> since iger took control in 2005, they are ushering in a new era for an entire industry. >> and disney is expected to pull all of its content from 2019. it will be subject to regulatory approval. abc news, new york. >> now let's go back and refocus the huge decision to repeal net neutrality which has been very controversial. >> we're talking about what it

means to businesses. >> so in the near term, it doesn't mean very much. the rules won't go into effect until early next year. there will be lots of lawsuits over this decision which will carry out. so your day to day experience in the near term won't be very different. >> potentially? >> in the long term, depending on whose side you're on. if you're on the side of the businesses, they claim that not having the net neutrality rules in place will mean they can up their roosevelt. bring you new services. you want a self-driving car, rock solid access to your car, telecommunications. if you're on the other side, not very trusting, it could mean the way you buy your internet service changes. they can charge you more. they can charge you more to deliver content.

>> so it could cost us more money. >> it could cost you more and limit what you see and what you have access to. >> which was what the fear was. >> what about, we did a report a few minutes ago on the report on tech companies. they're a little nervous about it. that it could really squelch start-up ability to get into the game. >> there are concerns on both sides. the big come out against this because they're concerned on the effect. how their services will be delivered. start-ups could be at a disadvantage if they're forced to pay more and they have to raise funds that giant companies can write a check for. so it could limit the kinds of streaming services, anything over the internet. >> so deep pockets will weather this. >> they should. although they may pass on the costs as well. >> then who wins, who loses? >> for sure, it is a big win

broad band. the biggest win is a wonky thing. they were classified like testify companies which means the fcc could bring this against them. this wipes it off the book. that means the only complaints that could be brought are by the fcc and it only brings those kinds of cases against people doing anti-consumer things when there's something harmful that happened. >> and it reflects the rapidly changing environment. >> this is a big deal. every one should pay attention to. t . >> you can expect some early deliveries from the u.s. postal service. carriers will be out as early as 5:00 a.m. and next week dlig your packages. they expect a more than 10% increase. that's about 100 million more packages than last year.

in case you're wondering, the deadline to get your mail delivered by skrm next tuesday. a bay area master piece is on the move and could soon thrill art lovers from around the world. diego ramirez's mural was painted in 1940. during the treasure island world's fair. for more than 75 years he. now they are loaning it to the san francisco museum of modern art for a major exhibition of the artist's work. they said the college is very excited. >> that theme is really at the heart. the dna of city college of san francisco. every aspect of our culture is here. >> this mural will be on display. the ground floor, in a space that's free to the public. and after the exhibition, it

will be returned and reinstalled at city college. >> all right. let's talk about the weather forecast. it is sparkling out there. what about the air quality? >> we still have poor air quality. it is a beautiful day once again. sunny skies across the bay area. you can clearly see on our roof top camera view. on portion of the skyline. 63 degrees in the city. still mild in most locations. although cooler in oakland. mid 60s to upper 60s. a cool 57 at half moon bay. check out this view of the soon to be setting 61. down to 59 in noe atto. mid 60s in concord andler more and another view of the western sky from the east bay. it will be a chilly start to the

day. we'll have an improvement in air quality in this dry, sunny pattern will continue into next week. here's a look at overnight conditions as we perceive them. clear skies. and once again, chilly to cold. the low temperatures will drop into the low to mid 30s. look for upper 30s to low 40s so the morning chill will be with us. the afternoon mildness will return by midday. look for highs in the mid 50s, including locations. reaching inland down south. a high of 67 degrees and santa cruz will top out about 70. so our beach side locations are among the milder ones. we have another spare the air alert. we expect good air quality in most regions by saturday. mainly because of a sharp increase in winds. so here's our wind gust

animation. we'll have wind gusts ranging from 25 to 40 miles an hour all across the bay area. then saturday night. still for windy conditions. the winds normalize by midday sunday. so looking ahead to when we expected our next rainfall, we'll start our an place next wednesday morning. we expect a little light rain into parts of the north bay by midday. snow will be pushing into the sierra. and the snow are continue into thursday. although we expect the rain, if it materializes at all, to have ended. here's the seven-day forecast. we expect mainly sunny skies. there be there be a minor drop-off. we'll see 62 to 64.

still very mild from mid to late december. the dry pattern continues. we're hoping for rain to come in next week but it doesn't look like very potent situation will. >> things are not looking so good at the 63 resorts. >> and the highly anticipated next

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confusing moments. it just send me on a roller coaster ride. >> it picks up where the 2015 "the force awakens" left off. >> all new characters. >> every character is going through something mentally and physically. >> i think it is pretty dark and a little light too. >> daisy who plays ray, the leading lady, says this was not like the force awakens. >> we ended seven and began eight. so immediately it is different. and then you have a different person at the helm and now we know we're going into something so it has a different vibe anyway. >> and you can expect a big he princess leia in the filmfully way. carrie fisher he finished her role before she passed away a year ago. >> it is very emotional watching it. i hope it will mean something to the fans. >> the film is expected to storm the box office with the

projected opening weekend of $200 million in the united states alone. abc news, los angeles. >> exciting stuff. abc7 news was in san jose where the fans lined up outside the tech museum. the imax theater is showing the last jedi tonight and some star wars fans say imax provides the best way to enjoy the film. it is produced by disney which is the parent company of abc 7. >> republicans continue their push for the tax plan. >> they made a bad bill even worse. >> just how close are we? and what does it mean for your family? >> police, abc pulls the

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gusty winds prompted the warning. >> just into our newsroom, an oakland judge has ruled that the master tenant of the ghost ship warehouse and his associate max harris will stand trial for an involuntary manslaughter. connected to the deadly warehouse fire. now to the tax plan showdown in washington. where republicans continue to push for a final vote. try to hand president trump his first major legislative win before christmas. elizabeth is in new york with the story. >> republicans forging ahead, touting their tax deal is a win. >> this will mean less of a paycheck going to wash and more to the hard work person who earned it. been, that's the whole purpose of this bill. >> the gop lawmakers so far

agreeing to the following changes. for the wealthiest americans, the tax rate drops. the corporate tax rate is cut from 25 to 21% class it will likely expand the child tax credit and double the standard deduction. >> this gives people a simpler system and a fairer tax code. that's what this accomplishes. >> the critics argue the wealthy benefit most leaving middle and low-income families with smaller cuts. >> amaze goly enough, behind closed doors they made a bad bill even worse. >> and plan becomes even more cowardly, outrageous, dishonest brazen theft on middle class families. >> dropping the man dane that

all americans have insurance. according to the congressional budget office, that could leave 13 million more americans uninsured over the next ten years. >> at this point, this is not a done deal. senate republicans can only afford to lose two votes and already senator corker and senator ruby say they're not on board. white house officials say they remain optimistic. >> texas republican blake farenthold has announced he will not run for re-election for the house of representatives. he is facing charges of sexual harassment said in a facebook video that the charges made against him are false but he admitted to allowing to a workplace that said was too permissive and decidedly unprofessional. abc has pulled the great american baking show after one of the contestants was accused of inappropriately touching and groping four women when they

worked for him at a manhattan restaurant. he has denied some of the allegations. the former 49er co-hosted the great american baking show. pbs has suspended distribution of tavis smiley's talk show after an independent investigation uncovered multiple credible allegations of misconduct by its horse. a representative declined to specify the nature of the investigation but said there are witnesses. the program has aired on pbs since 2004. the u.s. is violating iran for the nuclear deal. nikki haley spoke. she displayed the missile parts in a hangar at a military base in washington and said the missile was made in iran and sent to rebels in yemen. >> the iranian regime cannot be

allowed to engage in its behavior any longer. it is the world's fight. the united states is acting today in the spirit of transparency, and international cooperation that is necessary to defeat this threat. >> the iranian mission is calling the remarks baseless and said it categorically rejects xlams iran is in violation of the united nations security council. five years ago today, the terrible sandy hook massacre. a gunman killed many before taking his own life. a new school has been built and a permanent memorial is in the works. new tounl officils say a day of mostly private reflection was planned for today. three men have been charged with animal cruelty after a video they posted online went viral. it shows a shark being dragged behind a speeding boat in florida. the video was then posted to social media. the three plenty charged with

third degree felony animal cruelty charges in question, this video. they face up to five years in prison and $10,000 in fines if convicted. what we learned today about why am rosa left the white house. plus, not a lot of snow in the sierra. the ski resorts are making due. >> check out the snow for the holidays. no snow here. no rain either. just lots

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he it should be the busy time of year. >> live in the sierra with the answer. >> reporter: i'm here at north star, california. they're a few inches behind where they he were this time last year. they received 58 inches so far this year. that said, when nature turned off the tap here, they turned on the technology. >> tis the season to hit the slopes. or is it? there's real concern about what the mountains will look like when the crowds show up.

thanks to the state-of-th makin skiing is well worth the trip. >> if you're out golfing, you're really missing a great ski experience. even though it is warm, it's been a little drier than we like, the temperatures are great for snow making. >> how is it? >> better than what people think it is. very good snow. holding up well. >> even without help from mother nature, they've been able to open it from top to bottom. >> we're pretty fortunate we've gotten quite a bit of snow up top. we're able to make snow that so we're open from top to bottom. >> we're fleeing the smoke and the fire. >> do you think there's enough snow? >> not that much but there's a lot of snow on the moguls.

>> still, while pleasantly surprised, there are locker room will keep a close eye on the skies. >> so for those folks in the cabrera who are panicking. >> don't panic. come on up. enjoy the snow. i won't be here next week so have your way with it. >> as you can imagine, the resorts, all of them have planned special activities. so there's plenty to do. the skiing is good but there is still plenty have things to do and i'm hanging out by the fire with some of my new friends. are you having a good time? >> that's it from north star. >> let's talk about the weather forecast. another cool evening coming. >> before i tell you how cold it will be, let's look at this morning.

27 in napa, many other locations, down near the freezing mark if not below. and tonight we'll have a similar picture. there may not be many locations that will drop into the 20s. but close. a low 30 degrees. a low of 32. we'll still have some freeze and go sub freezing temperatures along the bay. by afternoon tomorrow, it will be a rerun of every day. hazy sunshine with highs in the mid to upper 60s in the warmest locations. a few upper 60s will materialize. here's the seven-day forecast. it shows very little change. mid-week, we may see temperatures drop a degree or two. not much though. we'll still have temperatures above average this time. year. however, at the end of next week, there is a slight chance of rainfall which is much needed. the system is not looking very

strong at the moment. sflflt new details about am rosa's departure from the white house. >> what the apprentice star turned white house aide told abc news today. >> plus, better together. working

the former apprentice star omarosa is speaking out denying reports that she was fired and escorted off the white house grounds. >> what happened? >> i resigned and i didn't do it in the residence as being reported. >> only on "good morning america," omarosa telling her side of the story. blasting reports she was fired and escorted off the white house grounds. >> i like to hear all of these interesting tales. i have to tell you that they're 100% false. >> she came to washington with president trump as one of the most high profile african-american staffers in the

administration. a friend of the boss who could walk into the oval office whenever she wanted. that is until chief of staff john kelly took over. >> certainly, i had more access than most and people had problems with that. they had problems with my 14-year-old relationship with this president. >> president trump offered his goodbye in a tweet writing, thank you, omarosa, for your service. i wish you continued successful as for why she's omarosa says stay tuned. >> i've seen things have affected me deep will and i emotionally and has affected my community and my people. when i can tell my story, it is a profound story that i know the world will want to hear. >> she said her last day on the job in the white house will be january 20th. for now, white house officials will only confirm she resigned to pursue other opopopop >> there was quite a moment following her interview on good

morning bherk michael strahan, co-host robin roberts, made this clip. >> she said she has a story to tell and i'll sure she'll be selling that story. >> it is often used as a dismissal for people unlikely to be used by anyone. whether it is government, business or tech, a lot of attention on the consequences of lack of women in leadership. a new book, better together, makes the point that having more women leaders leads to better results. thank you for coming in. >> thank you. >> let's start with you. you are a middle age man and you say you only fund companies with females. why is that? >> i fun companies with females because women make incredible leaders, entrepreneurs and ceos. as a matter of fact, i wrote this book because of that.

80 female ceos followed over a 12-year period, it was found they outperformed their male peers by 226% return on equity. that's incredible. i want everybody to know about that and there are things all companies and teams can do to have more we will in senior leadership positions and it improves more profits. >> why does having more women lead to more profits? you've interviewed a lot of women. why do you think it is? >> i think because women, in the workplace, it is gently a hamer workplace, a collaborative workplace, they find working with women means that there's more inover rags and communication is creativity. it makes sense to me that quoims more women are more profitable. >> i want to follow up. you've worked in the industry for decades and we've seen powerful men engaging in sexual misconduct. we had abc polling.

what does this mean when that behavior is tolerated? what does it mean for the companies is that then women? >> what it means, the takeaway with all the sexual harassment and men behaving badly is, the message in the book is that we cannot tolerate high performance -- it cannot be an excuse for bad behavior. i had many friends on the charlie rose store. the day "the new york times" story broke, they were out of a job. they had 19 years experience. they were producing an incredible show and they were out of a job. look at the people who did kevin spacey films. >> so a lot of human surfing you're saying as a result. >> i want to ask you. what shamed your views on women? >> so growing up, i was born to a single mother who was incredibly smart. she really worked hard to make

ends meet. i saw how hard she struggled. she was pushing up a much heavier rock up a steeper hill. that activated me earlier. i've also heard story after story. incredible female leaders who are trying to raise money for their start-up. trying to launch their small business. who are struggling much harder to raise money and put the country together. so that's why this is a passion of mine. to get the word out that women make incredible leaders. if you're a company, having more people with seats at the table improving your bottom line. >> some of our viewers may not be in a work environment. maybe no home environment. this is for either one of you. what are concrete things that men and women can do to change the balance? >> i think that the takeaway is not just, over, my gosh, these people are bad. for we will in the workplace, this is an opportunity for men and women. there are a lot of good men out

there. when they see bad behavior, it is time to speak up. at the end of the day, those people exhibiting bad behaviors wreck it for the entire country. >> with that we are out of time. i assume you're work grace, a woman, having the last word? >> absolutely. i prefer it. >> thank you so much. better together. leads to better profits a results. if you are a movie fan, this weekend is for you. it is not just about "star wars." jessica castro has some weekend ideas from our partners. >> listen up. to coincide with the release of the latest movie are "star wars," they'll be on hand at sketch pad gallery. they'll sign copies and meet fans. so this weekend you can meet the

author along with concept artist, aaron mcbride and christian are altman. this weekend's event from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. you will need to write a book. enjoyed the beloved comedy home alone. you'll listen to the fun score led by joshua gershon. get your tickets, the starting price at $69. also this weekend. showov your ugliest holiday sweaters at sweater con. the official san francisco ugly sweater pub crawl. it starts at the oyster us on right near bush street at 4:00 p.m. it takes to you several other

nearby bars as well. just to go abc7 news.com and click on the hood line line line coming up, a major upgrade to the abc7 news app. it will feature more customization, customized push alerts. now get tonight news that you want delivered to your phone in real-time. you can upgrade the bay area company lending a hand to learn more about outer space. and coming up, the north bay neighborhood light go up the night in honor of a victim of the mass shootings in vegas. >> and it may seem like a simple thing. find out why sitting down t

nasa came out with an out of this world announcement. researchers. >> announcer: announced an eighth planet. while this is a milestone in exploration, it is the technique that is making waves.

>> this summer's total eclipse captivated the nation. and star gazers have something else to celebrate. today nasa announced the discovery of an eighth planet in the kepler 90 system. >> we know it has as many planetts around it as ours and there's no reason to think there are probably planets with even more. >> it was made possible by analyzing data using artificial intelligence from google. >> nasa teamed one google to put together' self-learning algorithim that could teach itself to look for very faint signals from planetts they may have overlooked. >> it was well received at the science center in oakland. it could lead to the discovery of more planets in our galaxy. >> the more planets you have out there, the more potential

earth-like planets. it is not close. it is 2,500 light years away which means it will take millions of years to get there. >> young and old they say the research break through is out of this world. >> it is quite a large frontier. what we've seen so far is pretty small. >> and who knows. we may soon find a planet that sustains life. in oakland. abc7 news. >> with the help of the kepler spacecraft, they have discovered many more planetts outside our solar system. >> scientists believe there may be one planet orbiting every star in the sky.

you can see the direction of the fire. it burned all of that. >> fire damage closes the main route out of the open hills. next, why it is posing an unusual problem this time of year. >> and the defense team says a man convicted of a gun charge in the kate steinle case deserves a new trial. and the fcc's decision to end net neutrality. thank you for joining us. now, we begin with new developments today out of oakland. a judge just ruled the two men charged in the deadly ghost ship fire will face trial. >> they are charged with 36 counts of involuntary manslaughter. >> this all just happened in the last hour. the prosecution and closing arguments said the fact ppl