>> announcer: live where you live, this is "abc7 news." a tribute to a fallen hero. you can see the flag lowered to half-staff in oakland and across the state in honor of a california highway patrol officer who lost his life on the job. thank you for joining us. i'm natasha zouv the bay area is mourning the loss of andrew camilleri. a driver slammed into his suv. he leaves behind a wife and three children. abc7 news reporter amy hollyfield is at the chp office with an outpouring of support and where the investigation stands now. >> reporter: hi, natasha.

they are busy here with work they wish they didn't have to do. they're making plans to honor officer cammalleri. they have just announced plans for a bell ceremony that will take place tomorrow. they're also working with the officer's family on funeral plans. they have to deal with even out-of-state visitors, the canadian mounted police even want to send representatives here to honor the officer, so they are busy with all of that, with all the plans to honor him. the 33-year-old officer, husband and father of three, was in his car monitoring traffic on the 880 when he and his partner were hit and he was killed. the bell ringing ceremony is a way for the department to immediately acknowledge his sacrifice while the funeral planning is under way and it is also a way for employees to come together, especially those who can't attend the funeral. chp officials say he is a hero and he will not be forgotten. >> many families have been impacted by this incident as well as the citizens of

california that officer camilleri swore to protect. being a chp officer is a calling. andrew was drawn to this profession due to his courage, integrity, and his desire to serve. >> reporter: the driver of the car that hit the chp car is in the hospital. and i'm told he will be for a while, that he's in serious condition, but i've just learned that they're work right now to get the hospital to release him to the chp so they can release his name and information about him. they haven't released it yet. they have told us, though, they believe he was under the influence of drugs and alcohol and that they plan to charge him with several felony charges. the funeral has not been set yet, but i am hearing that it could be as early as friday. tomorrow's bell-ringing ceremony is too small of a place to accommodate the public, so that's going to be private. we will be allowed there, though, so we can broadcast it to the public so all can see. and one more detail they're working on, that's the

procession, and that could happen as early as today when had i body is transferred from the morgue to the funeral home. it will have a police chp escort. reporting live in hayward, amy holyfield, abc7 news. >> amy, thank you. governor jerry brown commented on the death, issuing this statement -- "anne and i are deeply saddened to learn of the tragic loss of officer camilleri. we join his family, friends, and the entire california highway patrol in mourning his death and honoring his sacrifice." a fire broke out in san jose this morning at sb construction flooring on alma court. it ignited around 8:45 this morning and witnesses saw the windows of the business explode into the parking lot. fortunately, no one was at work when it happened and no one was hurt. firefighters got it under control by 9:00 a.m., and the cause is still under investigation. and we're also tracking the wildfire still burning in southern california. the thomas fire continues to burn this morning. firefighters still on the front lines, and it has burned more

than 281,000 acres. it is 88% contained. the u.s. forest service expects full containment by january 7th. more than 700 homes have been destroyed and the fire is blamed for two deaths, including a firefighter from san diego. the cause of the fire is under investigation. well, muni is the bird transit agency to serve the san francisco transit center. it will stop from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. monday through friday. riders may board at bus plaza at beale and mission streets or transit island on market streets. those heading to the temporary transbay terminal for ac transit, west cat, greyhound, bolt and amtrak may transfer at the bus stop on beale between market and mission. menlo park will have an interim police chief right after the new year begins. meantime, the search begins for the permanent leader for the force. commander dave bertini will take over as menlo park's interim chief on january 6th, taking over for robert johnson, who is

leaving menlo park to serve as palo alto's chief of police. bertini has worked in law enforcement for 30 years. menlo park city leaders expect it will take six months to find a permanent chief. well, today is the day to make some returns, take advantage of after-christmas sales, and perhaps even get a head start on christmas supplies for next year. abc7 news reporter matt keller has seen it all and joins us live in the south bay. quick question for you, matt, what surprised you the most? >> reporter: well that people are thinking about next year's christmas. they're already a step ahead of all of us. but here at target, we're talking about returns. they're telling me that probably around 10:00 a.m. is when it starts to pick up, but really, we're not seeing too many people. they have a lot of people working the register. that's the good news, getting returns done quickly. but experts do have advice to help you survive the postholiday ritual. the rush was on when this walmart in san jose opened up at 6:00 a.m., but it wasn't for returns, at least not yet.

>> i don't like to pay full price for gift wrap, so i know the stores are going to have everything 50% off, and so that's why i like to come and get a good deal. >> reporter: in fact, we saw a lot of people leaving with half-off holiday items. however, the day after christmas is known for returning the gifts that didn't quite meet expectations. >> nothing big. >> reporter: nothing big? did someone give you this gift? >> yes, and it doesn't work. >> reporter: retail experts say americans return nearly $90 billion worth of holiday gifts, and many of them do it at the first chance get. >> less than 40% of people doing postholiday returns will do it on the 26th and 27th. they wait a week and probably return it first or second week of january, when you also see major discounts as well. >> here are more tips to avoid the crowds -- return your gifts online. more than a third of retailers offer free return shipping. you can also sell your unwanted gift cards on cardpool and raise, which can get you up to 90% of the cash back. but if you are going to head to the store this week, just

remember, the earlier, the better. it's pretty nice for you, right? >> it is, actually. i'm looking in the door, and there's non, because it's very early, but i'm up early with these guys, so. >> reporter: good timing. >> yes, very good timing. >> reporter: a survey reveals some interesting facts about returns. what is the most returned item? it's clothing, but it has more to do with sizing than with style. reporting live in san jose, matt keller, abc7 news. >> that is interesting, matt. and i didn't know about the selling back of the gift card thing. that's a good tip. thanks very much. all right, is california's public health department doing enough to stem the diabetes epidemic? a new audit says no. according to "the chronicle," the state lagged behind in spending for nutrition and education programs for prediabetic enrollees in medical. and listen to this, in 2015, california spent $1.4 million, but new york spent more than $7 million. the disease now affects more than half of california adults. well, donald trump is tweeting that he's going to get back to work after spending his

first christmas as president at his mar-a-lago resort in florida. he fit in plenty of festivities over the holiday weekend, including a golf game this morning, and that included a christmas eve service at the church that he and his first lady were married at. in their christmas message, president trump and the first lady spoke about the importance of the holidays. >> in the season of joy, we spend time with our families, we renew the bonds of love and goodwill between our citizens, and most importantly, we celebrate the miracle of christmas. >> this season we celebrate our blessings as americans and we pray for peace all over the world. >> the president also woke up and tweeted this morning, saying "democrats and republicans will eventually come together and develop a great new health care plan." well, a california man who was going deported back to cambodia is thankful that he returned home to modesto for the holidays. 42-year-old moni neff is one of two men that governor jerry brown pardoned over the weekend for committing crimes in the u.s. neff had been awaiting

deportation in a texas jail since october. that's when federal agents arrested him during an immigration sweep. >> it is a miracle, is what i call a divine coincidence that i'm here on christmas. our church theme this week, today, it's welcome home, so it's amazing. it's a miracle. >> neff served nearly two years in prison in 1995 for weapons, gang, and stolen n o stolen property. he says he is not the same person sand grateful for a second chance. turk to dangerous weather nationwide. snow and ice are creating dangerous conditions around the u.s., and parts of the country are about to plunge into a deep freeze. here's abc news reporter serena marshall. >> reporter: for the first time in nearly a decade, seattle blanketed in white for christmas. >> it's cold. cold is cold. >> reporter: the arctic blast turning a white christmas into a whiteout christmas for residents in upstate new york.

and in erie, pennsylvania, shattering records with more than 50 inches of snow in 30 hours. the greatest two-day total in the state's history. in michigan, visibility so poor, authorities warning drivers to stay home. the winter weather bringing down power lines and trees in new york. and in boston -- >> boston tower, are you okay? >> everything's fine. we just skidded on the ice. >> reporter: this jetblue flight hitting a patch of ice, spinning and skidding off the runway. >> once i realized we were going off the runway, i was like, uh-oh. >> reporter: the same airport seeing more than 300 delays and 64 cancellations, and the polar air blanketing the eastern u.s. continuing into wednesday with windchills below zero in chicago and near zero in boston. 18 states from new york to montana facing dangerous windchill. and while here in d.c., it's expected to drop into the teens from the northern plains to the western great lakes, that windchill could get so low and

so dangerous, the national weather service is warning you could get frostbite in less than ten minutes. serena marshall, abc news, washington. well, two big lottery jackpots are up for grabs today and tomorrow. over the holiday weekend, there were no winners in either the mega millions or powerball drawings. their jackpots are worth more than $600 million combined. mega millions at $277 million, $377 million is on the line for tomorrow night's powerball. the odds of winning not great. the mega millions, 1 in 303 million, and for powerball about 1 in 292 million, but i've said it before and i'll say it again, someone needs to win in the end, am i right, you know? tesla's lithium-ion battery saves the day and sets a new world record. we'll tell you how. and is apple's iphone x just too pricey? a new sign consumers are not picking up the new device. plus, a civic celebration 50 years strong, the celebration extended forans. good morning.

i'm meteorologist mike nicco. looks like a pretty nice day outside for this tuesday and you can see a little bit of haze out there, but the air quality is good right now, or at least moderate. but later today it's still possible it could be poor, so we're under a spare the air. don't burn any wood today. we'll talk about this ending in my seven-day forecast.

welcome back. now the "morning money" report.

analysts are lowering expectations for iphone x shipments, lacking the high price and lack of innovations. customers are instead choosing cheaper iphones, they say. the iphone x went on sale a month ago. apple has not disclosed sales targets. the world's largest lithium-ion battery has set another record. tesla installed it earlier this month in south australia. last week, a coal-powered power plant failed, delivering to a power cut there. it released juice into the electricity grid in 140 millisecon milliseconds. operators were shocked at how quickly and efficiently the battery was able to deliver that type an amount of energy. well, happening today, a big crowd will gather at san francisco's city hall to mark the 51st anniversary of kwanzaa. this is video from last year's celebration. the event is hosted by the village project. it begins at noon and it is open to the public. kwanzaa's based on seven principles, including self-determination, creativity, faith, and unity.

events are planned daily until the final day of kwanzaa on sunday. imagine if your best friend for 60 years actually turned out to be a blood relative. the special bond that these two men shared without even knowing about it until now. and a live look outside right now. meteorologist mike nicco is keeping an eye on the possibility of rain coming in the new year in his accuweather forecast.

♪ ♪ i'm gonna let it shine.e, ♪ it's energy saving time, ♪ i'm gonna reduce mine. ♪ californians all align ♪ to let our great state shine. ♪ let it shine, ♪ the power's ours to let it shine! ♪ unplug chargers - go, ♪ devices go off-line. turn thermostats down low, ♪ led's shine mighty fine. ♪ small actions quickly grow, ♪ to let our great state shine. ♪ energy upgrade california, will let us shine. ♪

hey, good morning, again. check out this beautiful view from our east bay hills camera, showing some of the high clouds that will roam through over the next couple hours and even a few low clouds way out over the distance, over the ocean. those will come into play more

tonight than what you're seeing on live doppler 7. see the wider band that's kind of moving from southwest to northeast orientation and moving to the southeast? that's the high clouds. underneath that those are the low clouds. so, we're going to have a lot of sunshine today. because of that, temperatures are going to be pretty mild for this time of year. we're almost at our average highs and we still have a couple hours of warming to go. now, out of the 40s in cloverdale and ukiah, 41, rest of us pretty much in the low 50s until los gatos at 57 degrees. beautiful shot from emeryville, again, showing some of the high clouds that are about to push in, and they'll not dim the sunshine much, so we'll call it a brighter sky today. mild highs remain, but it is a spare the air. no wood burning today. my accuweather highlight for tonight, areas of dense fog. it's mainly up around santa rosa and petaluma and points northward this morning. i think it will be more widespread tomorrow morning along with chilly lows in the 30s and 40s. and the new year offers a new hope for rain. that has been the case so far. it's not set in stone, all right? let's talk about today. 57 at the coast, about 56 to 59

around the bay and 59 to 62 inland. here's the next 12 hours on my accuweather planner. about 55 to 60, still kind of hazy at noon, about 52 at the coast but 57 to 60, hazy at 4:00. then high clouds and mid-to-upper 40s at 9:00 and low to mid-40s at about midnight when some of this fog will start forming. you can see the fog in the central valley trying to leak into the bay and some of the fog along the coast also trying to leak into the bay. so we'll have mid-to-upper 30s inland, low to mid-40s around the bay and mid-to-upper 40s along the coast and san francisco. this is one model, and stop me if you've heard this before -- the other model says no rain for monday. this one, i mean, that would be really a blessing if we could get that much rain out of one system that comes in sunday night, new year's eve, and then rains all day during new year's day. the other model completely dry, and it's unfortunately been the correct model so far through the

rain season as we have been extremely dry. in fact, most of us are going to end up with less than 5% of our average rainfall for december. tomorrow that fog will give way to sunshine, a few high clouds, temperatures about the same. a little bit warmer as the high pressure takes over for thursday and friday. saturday into sunday may be a little cooler with extra clouds and monday, we'll just call it cooler for now. no storm impact scale. we want to get closer to that day and try to hone in on whether we're going to get that rain or not. >> whoa, whoa, whoa, we all need the rain, get that but not on new year's eve when we're all trying to watch fireworks, mike. >> i know. that's not nice, is it? >> like the second model just for that night. then let's rain out the rest of the time. >> push it back? >> make it happen, mike. >> i'm on it. these are my two favorite stories of the day. this one here, two men in hawaii were best friends for 60 years before learning they are biological brothers. alan robinson and walter macfarlane met in sixth grade, even played high school football together, but they lived for decades with unanswered personal

questions. for one of the men, he was adopted, and the other new knew his father. it turned out both of them used ancestry.com to learn more about their past, and those searches resulted in a dna match. this weekend, both men revealed to family and friends that they share the same birth mother. >> it was a shock. >> yeah, it was a shock, yeah, definitely a shock. but then when we thought about it, compared forearms and everything. >> hairy arms. that did it! >> it was the hairy arms, yeah. alan and walter plan to enjoy their retirement in part by traveling togethr now. and this next story also great. some southwest airlines passengers felt right at home on christmas day while waiting for their flight. take a listen. ♪ i'll be home for christmas ♪ if only in my dreams [ cheers and applause ]

>> whoo! can we get her on "american idol," please? honestly! houston resident charise miles has been a flight attendant for 20 years. she's 42 years old, and she says she sings on all of her flights. she's trying to make a positive difference in people's lives. this particular performance prompted soldiers to tear up and thank her for her service. amazing. still to come, the unlikely tourist attraction. a forgotten port-a-potty that turned into a symbol of one a big family reunion. >> i hope you like man tears.

quick reminder, we're on 24/7 on the abc news app and abc7news.com. today on our website, helpful tips to make holiday returns a smooth and easy process. if you're logging on to ab abc7news.com from your phone, download the abc7 news app for breaking news alerts. well, a forgotten port-a-potty became the inspiration for a holiday display that became viral. this was left at a construction site in missouri and a family nearby put christmas lights on it as a joke, but it went viral. so, the family decided to make good out of this and put up a donation bin next to it hoping to collect for charity. >> i think if you can work something good out of something maybe not so good, i think you look for the positive side of everything and in the end it's been great. >> the port-a-potty company

eventually spotted their lost commode and agreed to keep the display up until after the holidays are over. >> really? they wanted that. >> well, doing good in the community, no publicity is bad publicity. >> it had l.e.d. lights, too, so they were environmentally -- >> thanks for joining us. "who wants to be a millionaire" is next.

>> drama, emotion, excitement, and maybe, just maybe, $1 million worth of celebrating at the end. it's time to play "who wants to be a millionaire." [cheers and applause] [dramatic music] ♪ hey, everybody, welcome to the show. you guys ready to go today? this guy is, so let's welcome our first contestant from oakland, california, kyle kahan. [cheers and applause] how you doing, kyle? welcome. >> i'm doing great. great to be here. >> feel like a million bucks today. >> hopefully more. >> you're about to face 14 questions, from $500 all the way up to that $1 million. [cheers and applause] you have your three lifelines. they're there if and when you need 'em. so let's get to your game. let's play "who wants to be a millionaire." [dramatic musical flourish] ♪ $500 question starts us off. good luck. here we go. which of these does not correctly match a u.s. state