ravaged road in the south bay. >> thank you for joining us. >> let me say it. it is about time that we saw some rain here. let me show you why. we are tracking some moisture moving into the north bay. and as we get you closer, you will notice there are some radar rurnss between cloverdale and ukiah right now. we take you to the level south state street, definitely expect more than a few sprinkles. as you look at the wider picture, here's the cold front heading down our way. it is already snowing in the mountains, in the sierra nevada. tonight through wednesday morning, light rain. less than a quarter of an inch for most of you. do expect gusty winds. 20 to 30 miles an hour. hour by hour look at your morning commute coming up.

>> thanks. with winter storms still ahead, a casualty of february's fierce storms is still under repair. a section of highway 35 in the santa cruz mountains. david covered the original mud slide. now he has an update. >> a series of storms last february wiped out a part of 35. it rimmed out at least 100 mature trees. the damage was so great, local residents didn't expect repairs to be fast or easy. >> it will be years before they get these problems straightened out. years. >> but look at this video. over the past ten years, crews repaired the slide. they also built walls for a new roadbed to be built in. >> we had to build a total of

three walls as part of project. one near the bottom of the him, one to hold the roadway in. and that's just quite an engineering challenge. >> they said it is super fast. that enabled competitive bids after a year-long project was developed. a different kind of concrete was used to hold the retaining walls in place. cellular concrete is lighter, yet just as strong as compacting soil and rocks without adding stress to the walls. they are drilled into bed rock for stability. with as many as 60 people work at a time, the $10 million project is nearing completion. if all goes well, this stretch will be reopen the middle of january. much to the relief of local residents and users of highway 35. in the santa cruz mountains. abc7 news. a man who killed an offduty police officer was sentenced to

21 years in prison. officer vega was shot and killed in his own home. outside the courthouse, this was really a very emotional day. >> reporter: yes, it was. tears from beginning to end for the investigationas family. there day was not about revenge or even justice. simply about close go one painful chapter and moving on. in an emotional hearing inside a fairfield courtroom, the family of augustine gus vegas told the judge what his loss has plenty to they will. several of the ten children gave statements. some offering for giveness to robert vega, a man once considered part of the family. >> i can't expect forgiveness if i'm not willing to for give first. >> reporter: the judge sentenced 30-year-old vega to the maximum. 21 years for shoot go vega 21

times in the home. he is the father of their young child who witnessed the shoot go. in court, his widow sandra said maybe it would have been easier if it had been a stranger. there's no way to make sense of this. >> when he risks his life every day for everybody, and gets his one sanctuary. his one place where he knows he can lay his head. that's where his life has taken them. >> reporter: the iraq war veteran suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and thought he was in danger. on his way out of court, an emotional vega said, i love with us all my heart. i'm not a danger. i'm not a bad person. this expletive is not justice. >> i really believe in my son for his post-traumatic stress, and for both of our families,

this is a great tragedy. >> reporter: vega indicated he would file an appeal. a abc7 news. three men were investigated. a man was shot in the chest inside a home right across from el toro elementary school. the victim actually called police himself before it happened to say someone was coming to shoot him. officers say he knew the suspects. the three men were driving on southbound ten 1. a car crashed this afternoon during a chase. sky 7 was over the sight. you can see the police car and the suv involved in the crash. it started with an assault on an officer. a teacher's aide is under arrest after alleged misconduct

with one or more students. the 31-year-old from richmond is alleged to have behaved inappropriately with a 17-year-old student. she was arrested yesterday. the school says they are cooperating with police and have placed her 42-year-old heather butts was arrested last august after engaging in inappropriate behavior with a 15-year-old teenager at lomita park elementary school. she said they had been in a relationship for two years. butts will be required to register as sex offender. an all girls catholic high school in san jose is facing more allegations of sexual misconduct by teachers. former students came forward with new allegations.

they're calling for a change in leadership at the school. >> the coach was tegsing my daughter, 10 to 20 times a day. grilling her and tell her she was sexy and beautiful. >> she details the sexual abuse she said her daughter endured as a student at presentation high school in 2013. she said a female water polo coach gave her daughter massages and sent inappropriate photos. ? presentation needs to own up to what they did to my daughter is that publicly apologize. >> three administrators told her about the behavior but she believes it was never reported to the police. >> we need to immediately get a change in leadership and get someone in there who takes child protection laws seriously. >> and this woman says she, too, was a victim in 2006. she said she told her counsellor.

>> she told me not to worry, that he wouldn't be coming back next year. she told me tonight repeat what she had shared with me. >> attorneys and their investigators say so far, 17 come forward claiming sexual misconduct. they major eight teachers and coaches are involved. >> the pranl would not go on camera but told us all reports of spamt have come the her have been handled properly by the school administration. the high school says they will have mandatory he training and there will be a review of school policies. we are still waiting to learn the identity of the victim of a house fire this concord. a man shot this video of the fire on coventry road. flames were shoot go out of the roof when the firefighters arrived at 6:15 this morning. they had on fight through not

on only, they had to fight through roof. and there will be electricity in the park for the first time since being ravaged. flames destroyed about 15 hundred homes. in neighborhood alone. pg & e plans to energize the west side of coffey park today and the east side later. having power will of course help people rebuild their homes and provide some street lights as well. as the thomas fire continues to grow, one lady took mat enters into her own hands. what she did saved her home. why broken parking meet letters soon be a thing of the past. i haven't shopped for anything yet.

>> and she's not alone. 7 on your side's michael

containment of the thomas wildfire is now at 50%. it has grown to 424 square miles, enormous, making it the third largest wildfire in california history. that size translates into the area from san francisco to san jose and just about all of san diego county. this fire has destroyed more than 1,000 homes. it has been burning two weeks. full containment is expected january 7th. still a long way to go. a woman in santa barbara county built an elaborate system that saved her home and possibly her town from the thomas fire. look at this. lynn installed giant rain birds,

a 5,000 gallon back-up tank, and miles of fire hose, to assist aa firefighters. she even cleared the trees he. when flames approached her ranch saturday, firefighters got straight to work. >> we stopped the fire right here at the edge of this canyon from going further down. that center flanking fire would have gone straight into the heart of mont secito. >> she said her friend built the system after another wildfire back in 2008. air bnb has made a big move to change the apartment rental business. they've launch ad brand of residential complexes specifically designed for home sharing. as reported by our media partner, the mercury news. a 432 unit building is already underway. construction in florida. they said this will be part of

future of house go. not only in florida but across the country. if you've ever been given a parking ticket at a meter that was not work, you can rest eaeaa supporters say it will give cities an incentive to fix broken meters. >> if you're unfortunate enough to see an empty parking space, you pull in, you get all your stuff out. you go to the parking meter and it is broken. and you go, what do i do now? find another place to park is this you can park there legally. >> starting january 1st, drivers will be able to park at broken meters without penalty for up to just the posted time limit. you still have that. an oakland man is collecting books for this unique group of

firefighters. carlos explains what sparked his interest in this book drive. >> this year, firefighters have been on the front lines of the biggest wildfires in state history. among those risk go their lives, california inmates. >> we tend to do different operations. the wind can change in a second and move the fire into d d areas. >> patrick shaw is a seasonal firefighter who worked alongside inmates battling the fire this summer. >> they finished the sentences at the camps and it never gets cycled out. it gave patrick the idea of launching the prison fire. he's been collecting books for the 43 inmate fire camps across the state. the california department of corrections and rebill tagss says low risk inmates volunteer

their time which can help reduce sentence time. so far more than half a dozen oakland businesses have opened their doors. >> these are just some of the books that have been donated to the prison fire project. >> i'm seeing a lot of >> don'tations have been overwhelming. patrick says he's deliver the books this spring. that way, inmates will have some fresh literature before the start of the next fire season. abc 7 news. now to the holidays and the last-minute gifts. >> michael finney? >> you don't do panic shopping. >> i'm thinking, is that you? >> i haven't started to panic

yet. >> don't panic. they're eager to deliver to those here procrastinate. they need to know who will give you the best deals and get the stuff to you on time. >> i have a baby so i'm just leaving everything until the last minute. >> i'm a last-minute shopper. >> i know i want to go shopping. i just don't know when. >> the key is to pay attention to the deadlines. >> many offer a two-day delivery to anywhere in the united states and sometimes it's free. but this year, you may need to give yourself additional time walmart offers free two-day shipping to orders year round. but order by 2:00 p.m. december 20th to get it by christmas. amazon prime members get free two-day shipping but the

deadline is december 22nd. ll bean offers free delivery rear round. but get that order in by tuesday, december 19th, to get your purchases in time of the will. >> another wrinkle. some may have delivery are christmas day. >> not planning on critical deliveries on the 24th. fedex will have limited service. >> the trusty united states postal service says it will deliver on the day before christmas. >> another last-minute option. depending on availability of the store, walmart will take instore pick-up orders every day including through december 25th. if you're really stuck, you may be able to get orders over $35 on the same day from amazon prime depend go on the item and the zip code it is being delivered to. and for those very last-minute items, electronic gift cards can

be ordered. they can even be ordered on the day. but the down side, everybody knows what you're up to. you are looking at two of the residents at the oakland zoo. lemurs are now there tleflt come from the zild of the east coast. one of the lemurs likes the swill, which very rare for the species. let's check out live doppler 7. we are seeing some returns here on our radar. i'll take you into where it is raining. very light. straight level radar here. we go to old redwood highway. there are a few radar returns in the sierra nevada. it is snowing but it has not

reached the lake level yet. you can see it is crossing 80. no chain controls. i assume this will change very quickly. as the snow levels will be dropping. a dramatic view from our lake tahoe camera. you're seeing the clouds there. and equally dramatic. just a few little peeks through the clouds. the temperatures, 54 in san francisco. half moon bay, if you watch carefully, you can see the movement of the clouds. the winds have begun on increase at the hire elevations. it will take a few more minutes to get it in the lower elevations. turning wet and w tonight through tomorrow morning. winter starts at 8:28 thursday morning. it will feel cold. more coming your way come christmas. a level one light system.

i expect light rain. the winds will be gusting 20 to 30 miles an hour. hour by hour we go. you see the light to moderate rain. as we go to 9:00 p.m., the rain will start to shrift. we see a few spotty light showers and this continues in the north bay 2:00. a.m., you see the rain moving across the central bay. and 3:00 a.m., wednesday morning, commute time for some of you. you will notice pretty wet in the east bay. the peninsula heading to the south bay. and that's where the focus will be at 5:00 a.m. the isolated showers to the north. we'll see ram i had clearing behind this system. there will be some showers around along the coast and could see a few of these drift in. i wouldn't put the umbrellas away right away. i would hang on to they will at the lunch hour.

every little bit of rain helps, especially since december has been so dry. the winds will be coming up. 7:00, not so bad. as we head into 11:00 p.m., 20 to 25 miles an hour. breezy conditions, turning gusty. the winds will be about 30. the winds could be higher as we head toward thursday. in the mountains, theweight weather advisory, the reduced visibility, gusty winds, the snow level will be dropping below for you,000 feet. so it will impact travel. the good news is just in time for the holidays. we'll be getting some powder. wet, windy. make sure you have your uranium gear. windy and chilly. it will feel like winter is

almost here. >> morning rain, windy pretty much all day. winter, thursday morning. the temperatures will reflect that. we head into a dry period. on christmas day we have a chance of seeing some showers in the bay area. milder weather though. check out live doppler 7. in san franci

a the video was released last week. the magnetic levitating pod speeded through a tube 20 miles an hour faster than the previous record. but it is still less than the hyper theoretical speed of 700 miles an hour. there's now a smarter way to

get rid of trash in san francisco. abc7 news was in san francisco for the unveiling of smart trash cans. the leaders stay big belly waist disposal units have an internal compactor allowing them to hold five times more trash. >> it also has a wi-fi system that lets you know when the garbage needs to be picked up. so really excited. it is not sexy but the unveiling of these nine big belly trash cans will make a huge difference for the neighborhood. >> the units are tamper resistant and sealed to prevent spills. county officials in england are getting a lot of heat for telling people how many brussel sprouts to have with their christmas dinner. in one county, they sent out a tweet saying six sprouts equals one portion. don't overbuy and they won't go

to waste. the guidelines are not going over well. one person said state approved portions of food. another person asked if there would be a sprout officer. another talked about food nazis. they said we sent out thousands of tweets. sometimes we get it wrong. one bay area woman gives christmas to kids

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coming up at 6:00, preventing the train disaster. plus, more fallout from this deadly shooting in san francisco. the federal lawsuit facing the department. and bay area doctors have figured out how to save precious time for stroke patients. it is all coming up in a half-hour at 6:00.

>> finally, her many friends call her mrs. claus. >> we're here to tell that you mrs. smith is truly an angel. she's been leading it for many years. she really outdid herself. the marines put boots on the ground to take the toys away. >> this year i spent over $30,000. 122 bikes the give out to children of all ages. i pick it out myself. >> they raised the money to buy those toys and bay alarm is her biggest backer. >> but today is bitter sweet. it is her last toy drive. she's touched so many people and she will be missed by so many. way to go, mary. >> i'm sure what she's done, her generosity is infectious and someone else will pick it up.

>> from all of us here, we appreciate your time. tonight, breaking news as we come on the air in the west. unfolding right now on the hill, president trump on the verge of victory, but what just happened? why is the tax bill suddenly being held up? and tonight, who really wins with the tax cuts, and who loses? we break down the math right here. also breaking at this hour, the images coming in right now. passengers who had been on a holiday cruise, and then the deadly tour bus crash that followed. at least 12 dead, a dozen injured. new images from inside that deadly train derailment, and now we learn the train was going more than twice as fast as it should have been. the holiday travel worries tonight. we are tracking two systems at this hour. one from texas to the carolinas. and then, a second storm moving right across the country, hitting several major travel hubs, and then the east. the plane crashing right into the front y