cisco making a serious er in problem even worse. >> it's a little scary. i work in the sales force tower. so it's like -- and then i'm wondering if the fact that the millennium next to it, if it had something to do with it. i don't know. >> a live look right now from sky 7 showing you the transbay center from the roof there. the cracks are a big blow to sales force which is paying $110 million for the naming rights. >> as for the traffic situation, you can see the red and the yellow indicators right here, that's where the commute is at its worst. howard street is blocked off. and -- well, it's just going to be hard getting into and out of san francisco tonight. it may be this way for awhile until the situation is resolved. good evening. thanks for joining us. >> let's go ahead and take a closer look at the cracks now. workers discovered the first one early yesterday. the second one was discovered

last night. both support the roof and the bus deck level above fremont street. melanie woodrow is live in the sales force transit center now with the latest. melanie? >> reporter: fremont street where i'm standing and the transit center will be closed until at least the end of next week. and for good reason. that's because the damage is above fremont street. the main crack approximately two feet, six inches. and another smaller crack on an edadjacent beam. this is the cracked steel beam workers discovered at 10:00 a.m. yesterday. >> the beam is basically supports the roof, the bus deck, and spans fremont street. it's holding up the bridge over fremont street. >> reporter: which is why they decided to close fremont street and the transit center. >> we will not open until we're 100% the issue is rectified, is

corrected, and the building is safe. >> reporter: during their investigation last night, workers found a second crack. >> the adjacent beam to the beam in question also suffered some cracking. not to the same extent as the beam in question, but still has some cracking. >> reporter: this is what the beams looked like when they were installed in january of 2016. tgpa also says there was no crack in june 2016 when fire proofing material was installed. >> the cracks took place after june of 2016. we don't know when. >> reporter: meaning it's possible the cracks occurred before they were discovered yesterday. the transit center has been open to the public since august 12th. tgpa says there are similar beams on first street. >> we inspected it visually and we see no signs of any deformation or stress. we continue to monitor the situation. but at this point in time, we have no reason to believe that the -- this exists on first

street. >> reporter: tgpa says the cracks could be a fabrication, welding, installation, or design issue. and the next step is to put in temporary shoring to relieve the load on those two cracked beams before they were ultimately fixed or replaced. tgpa has said that they will give us regular updates. live in san francisco, melanie woodrow, abc 7 news. now to the latest on brett kavanaugh. >> every single girl that judge kavanaugh dated that's come forward has said he's a man of high integrity. >> we don't find people like this. he's outstanding. he's a gem. >> a full court press defending brett kavanaugh as another woman accuses the judge of misconduct and this warning from her attorney. >> to donald trump and to hurt his surrogates, i say this. you better be very, very careful before you come after my client

and call her a liar. >> so there are now three women and here they are now accusing judge kavanaugh of sexual misconduct. all from the early 1980s. more now from emily rowe. >> reporter: less than 24 hours before kavanaugh and his first accusers christine blasey ford testify, lawyer michael avenatti told "the view" his client julie swetnick wants to come forward. >> she wants the american public to know the truth about brett kavanaugh and his conduct. >> reporter: she alleges she saw him taking place in abusive and physically aggressive behavior towards girls in the 1980s. including the quote, fondling, and grabbing of girls without their consent and attempting to move or shift their clothing when he was drunk. abc news has confirmed the senate judiciary committee has

received a sworn declaration from swetnick. in it she claims she's received multiple clearance for agencies. saying, quote, this is ridiculous. i don't know who this is and this never happened. in a rare solo press conference, president trump said he, too, wants to hear from kavanaugh's accusers and he's open to changing his mind. he also addressed allegations raised against himself which he called false. >> i've had many false charges. there are many of them. so when you say does it affect me in terms of my thinking with respect to judge kavanaugh? absolutely. because i've had it many times. >> reporter: senators on both sides clearly frustrated. >> i think it is a smear. i don't think there's any question in my mind about it. but i'm willing to keep an open mind. >> republicans need to immediately suspend the proceedings related to judge kavanaugh's nomination. >> reporter: abc news, washington. >> and late this afternoon, lawyers from christine blasey

ford released the eight-page testimony she plans to read before the senate judiciary committee tomorrow. we read through it. >> reporter: blasey ford's testimony mirrors what's already been reported about the alleged attack itself, but we are learning additional details from it. blasey ford writes that she's terrified to speak out but feels it's her civic duty to do so. dr. christine blasey ford's attorneys released these photos today in the leadup to tomorrow's testimony. you can see blasey ford taking a polygraph test. a former fbi agent is said to have administered it. he asked if any part of her statement was false or made up. both answers were no. the former agent said three separate analysis said there were no deception in the test. her opening statement talks about the night of the alleged attack. she said he knew her but not

well. quote, i tried to yell for help. when i did, brett put his hand over my mouth to stop me from screaming. that was what terrified me the most and has had the most lasting impact on my life. blasey ford says she drank one beer and that kavanaugh and his friend mark judge were visibly drunk. she says the details about that night that bring me here today are ones that i will never forget. they have haunted my episodically as an adult. blasey ford describes the lasting effect it has had on her life. and we've reported on the death threats she's received and her family having to leave their pam low al toe home. she writes, this past tuesday evening, my work e-mail account was hacked and messages were sent out supposedly recanting my description of the sexual assault. in her note, blasey ford acknowledges that a hired prosecutor will be questioning her but she also asks to speak

directly to the body. >> thank you. dion lim is in washington tomorrow for the testimony. look for her reports on abc 7 and online throughout the day. and we will carry the senate judiciary committee hearing live beginning at 7:00 a.m. tomorrow. you can watch it here on abc 7 or on the abc 7 news app. let's go back to the sales force transbait transit center for a moment. the big question is why didn't the transbay close the terminal right after they discovered the first crack yesterday morning? >> instead, many commuters found out as they were heading home from work yesterday. we're joined live from the temporary transit center with a closer look at the timeline. >> reporter: well, that's easy to answer. the reason they didn't disclose it right away is because they were waiting for those engineers to exam that beam.

but by 3:30 in the afternoon, it was pretty clear that the closure was imminent and few people knew about it. the steel beam was discovered at 10:00 yesterday morning. it makes sense it took engineers several hours to understand the extent of the problem. but by 2:30 in the afternoon, bay area transit agencies were warned that an area was being cordoned off to give inspectors more space. then came a second call that would change everything. >> at 3:30, it was clear that the statement was that closure of the terminal is imminent. >> reporter: yet at 3:30 the transbay failed to put out an alert even though they knew the closure was imminent. ip stez at least one media outlet got wind of the situation and tweeted it. then at 4:20 golden gate transit alerted its riders to say service to and from the transit

center was canceled. the other agencies quickly followed. >> at that point, we started developing plans to ensure that we were getting information out to the public as soon as we could. >> reporter: it wasn't until 4:28 that the transbay power authority sent out a press release and later had a press conference. but by then commuters were finding out for themselves that the transit center was closed. >> it was a fast kboping -- >> but it was late. you have to admit you kind of waited here. >> we did not wait. the only thing we waited for was the analysis on the serverty of the situation and what steps we needed to take. >> reporter: the sales force transit center sent out its first tweet about the closure at 10:00 p.m. even the city's emergency alert system sent out theirs at 5:04 p.m. >> i'm sure there's things we could have done better. i just don't know at this point what we could do. lesson learned. and hopefully we're never into a situation like this.

>> reporter: and right now you're looking at the old temporary transbay terminal. and, you know, i don't know. i think it looks pretty, you know, easy. i think people are just getting on. it doesn't look as chaotic as it did yesterday. i think people went immediately to plan "b." either they decided to take b.a.r.t. or they decided to stay late at work or go home ea looks moving. i'm live from san francisco, lyanne melendez, abc 7 news. >> got to remember up until six weeks ago, that was the normal for everybody. that was the spot. >> it went right back to it. >> exactly. all right. testing rockets to outzer space? not in cape canaveral but alameda. the concern sparked by this new video. plus why one man made 23 million robocalls in months. why he won't be making more.

and the company that wants to pay you to give up your car.

an update now to a story we told you about back in february. alameda residents worried about living next to a company that's building a new generation of small rockets to deliver goods to outer space. abc 7 news anchor eric thomas joins us live at the old alameda

naval air station. eric? >> reporter: larry, it's not like it's a secret. take a look back there. the rocket sits right there. and they haven't -- this is not the launching place for it. this is the place where they build and test it. but some residents even though they live nearby within a couple hundred yards of here don't know that. a quick glance at this rocket tell you it's too small to carry humans or big satellites into outer space. and the company that makes it is so closed mouth that even other workers are just finding out they're here. >> i think there's a lot of empty space here, why not put it to good use? i'd be concerned of what it's actually for. >> reporter: one resident sent us this video when he saw the rocket while on a stroll near his home. he told us by phone he worries about safety. >> i don't know if it's fueled up. that's my concern. like i said, i'm close to it. i've seen on youtube a bunch of

rockets blowing up and they don't make small explosions. >> reporter: like the explosion of an unmanned spacex rocket last year. this belongs to astro. they won't talk to us on camera but their application to operate in alameda says the company is building the next generation of rocket to launch satellites weighing 100 kilograms into orbit. this shows its size next to a spacex rocket. the alameda fire department couldn't tell us if they store flammable rocket fuels on site. but by phone, astro is complying with safety codes. >> this company has been a willing partner of the city and the fire department to operate in a very safe fashion. we're very pleased in how seriously they've taken their business and honestly have no issues at this point with how they're conducti ining their business. >> reporter: and there is a safety officer on site and also

the fire department has had no problems getting on if they need to. they also believe they have all the equipment they would need to handle any problems there. so far there have been none that we are aware of. a lot of people are just finding out about this. eric thomas, abc 7 news. >> all right. thank you. the fcc issued one of its largest fines ever today. >> $82 million for illegal robocalls. one guy -- >> one guy. >> super annoying guy. >> yeah. you don't want to meet him at a party. those calls were made by one telemarketer. 21 million in three months. that telemarketer succeeded because he spoofed the numbers. he told you about that before. that simply mean this numbers that show up on the caller id were faked. so consumers had a tough time filing complaints to get the calls to stop. the fcc says combatting illegal robocalls is the agency's top

consumer protection priority. now, to learn more about spoofing and how to file a complaint with the fcc, head over to our website at abc7news.com. the federal reserve raised short-term interest rates a quarter of a point today increasing from 2% to 2.25%. it makes it more expensive to borrow. so for the same monthly payment, you can buy about 10% less of a house now than you could get a year ago. a warning, if you're looking to buy, the interest rate is expected to go up again before the year is up. and three more times next year. a new study from aaa says most drivers don't understand the safety features in their vehicles. 80% of those surveyed don't know how blind spot monitoring works. 40% of drivers don't understand the difference between forward collision warning and automatic braking. forward collision warning doesn't stop your car. and 29% of people will engage in

other activities while cruise control is engage. >> what? okay, now i'm scared to hit the roads. >> bad, bad idea. >> yep. >> all right. thank you, michael. >> sure. hi there, everyone. we had weather that would pretty much please anyone. look at the microclimates here. 98 degrees the high so far in concord and vacaville. but 59 degrees in halfmoon bay. 74 san francisco. 90 in santa rosa. 77 in oakland. san jose you got up to 86 degrees. so definitely was a wide range of temperatures. now, if you're thinking about what's ahead for the rest of the next seven days, here's a look at livermore's average high. 82 degrees. tomorrow still on the hot side. 93. well above average, but not for long. those temperatures are going to really drop beginning on friday and continue to cool as we head towards the weekend. so we will drop down to the upper 70s by then. live doppler 7 showing you the

fog along the coast. we have some wispy clouds up aboe. our mt. tam cam captures that well. temperatures 57 in the city. 65 in oakland. 5 a in half moon bay. 79 degrees in santa rosa. still pretty hot from vacaville to livermore in the mid to upper 90s. you can download the accuweather app and track those temperatures any time you want. you can barely make out of the view here with the combination of the fog and high clouds. cooler weather for the end of possible north bay on saturday. next week we could be talking about showers. first thing tomorrow morning, most of you in the 40s, 50s. foggy right along the coast. it's going to be thick around the coastal areas. a little bit locally right over the bay. and then as we head towards tomorrow afternoon, temperatures will come down a few degrees. 84, san jose.

92 degrees in gillroy. on the peninsula, a mix of sun and clouds. 62 in half-moon bay. and you're going to hang onto that fog. north bay temperatures 60s at the beaches. to the 90s around lake port. 85 santa rosa. 82 san ra fell. pretty mild day. 74 in oakland. inland spots, you're going to be on the hot side again. 94 in fairfield. 93 livermore. here's what i want to draw your attention to. two systems coming our way. saturday morning into saturday evening, this is weak. it brings a few showers to northern california. maybe some sprinkles to the north bay. as we head into monday and tuesday, another system comes in, links with what is now a hurricane but it's just going to be moisture that's leftover. and that could mean showers coming our way with the best opportunity on wednesday. still hot inlant tomorrow.

but those temperatures will really tumble friday, saturday. only upper 70s to low 80s inland. 60s coastside next week. you may need toez hose um el la. all right.

lyft is launching a challenge to try to get people out of their cars in san francisco. the ride hailing company offering consumers who sign up to ditch their cars for a month some $500 towards transportation credits. you get $100 in car rental credit for zipcar. and $94 credit for clipper cards. the challenge kicks off in san francisco and 34 city october 8th. a man spent a day on the ocean he'll never forget. check it out. kyle was sitting in his kayak when a sea lion -- did you see that? he flung an octopus at him.

his friend shot the video off the coast in new zealand. he laughed it off simply saying he was in the wrong place or the wrong time. or maybe it was the right place. >> using an octopus as a weapon? the sea lion, i don't know if he's madder at the octopus or the guy. >> who won that round? >> not the guy, that's

coming up on abc 7 news at

6:00, zeroing in on the cause of the cracks at the transbay terminal. >> that would be an ominous situation because then it would question the whole structure. >> tonight what a uc berkeley professor says would be the worst case scenario when it comes to determining what caused the cracks. at dream force and how it's ion helping dreams come true for some lucky students. all that coming up at 6:00. >> all right. see you then. story now about friendship and how people say it isn't one big thing. it's a million little things. >> yeah. that's exactly what a new abc drama sets out to explore. >> reporter: four friends who hang out all the time until an unexpected tragedy -- >> you're not going to believe this. >> reporter: -- puts life in perspective. >> john killed himself. >> i think some of us in real life and in this show have secrets we're not aware of. >> reporter: abc's "a million little things" delve into our hidden sources of pain. >> i had no idea he was

depressed. >> reporter: and the ups and downs that make us human. >> if you're watching this and you're going through something you might not feel as alone. >> all the characters are wrestling with how to live what's left of their life. >> reporter: the drama part tear jerker part comedy with a big dose of mystery. >> you've been on that business call for a long time. >> reporter: but the message it sends is both simple and powerful. >> friendship is being able to have the hard conversations and being willing to listen. it's a million little things. >> reporter: abc news, hollywood. >> well, it's certainly worth checking out. you can watch the premiere of "a million little things" tonight at 10:00 and then on abc 7 at 11:00 a bay area woman who tried to take her own life and survived. she is now part of a growing movement of survivors giving hope to others. you definitely don't want to miss that. >> all right. world news tonight with david muir is up next.

>> from all of us here, thank you so much for joining us tonight. our next newscast is at 6:00 p.m. connect 24/7 at abc7news.com.

tonight, just hours from what will be an historic public hearing in front of the american people, and tonight, what the president just said about his nominee. we had not heard this before. judge brett kavanaugh and his accuser, dr. christine blasey ford, set to answer questions. president trump just moments ago, unleashing. when asked about the women and their allegations, he said, "these are all false to me. what they've done to this man is incredible." but when pressed, what he said about the possibility of pulling this nomination, saying, "it is possible i'll hear something and i'll change my mind." also tonight, what brett kavanaugh will reportedly tell the country about drinking and about assault. and dr. christine blasey ford, what she plans to say, what she

accuses him of. her opening statement just re