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tv   ABC7 News 500PM  ABC  October 30, 2018 5:00pm-5:30pm PDT

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teacher. she was killed while riding her bike. >> she was hit by a car last night. the driver is under arrest for dui. >> today, students were told about her death. abc 7 news reporter leeian melendez is live for us at the school and how the community is handling this. >> reporter: pretty much every parent in this area knew he the dixie community is very small. there was no hiding the news of the tragic death of one of the school's favorite teachers. debra dibenedetto. >> allison morris shared this picture of her son and the 63-year-old teacher. >> she loved nature and hiking and she loved doing restoration with the kids and gardening. so it's a very sad day for everybody. >> reporter: investigators say she was riding her bicycle on sir francis drake boulevard near
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railroad avenue in wood acre. >> she was riding west on the right shoulder. at some point a 2006 ford explorer traveling westbound as well drifted on to the right-hand shoulder and struck her there. >> reporter: the driver of that explorer, 24-year-old paula drake of fairfax, was apparently under the influence of alcohol. she has been charged with a felony dui and with gross negligence, manslaughter. the school district's counselor came to the school to help the kids process the news. >> communication has been pretty direct with both the families and the kids about her death. about the -- that she did die. she was in a bike/car accident. that we're here to support them. >> reporter: california highway patrol officers were told by witnesses that dibenedetto was not wearing a helmet. we ran into retired san francisco firefighters who get together twice a week tocycle. they say these days, distracted drivers are the main concern.
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>> we saw a guy around the corner here. he went halfway through a red light, had to slam on the brakes. he wasn't paying attention. we were right next to him. >> reporter: the school will honor her this coming friday during their harvest festival. something she absolutely loved. again, the school district calling this a huge loss for this community. live in san rafael, melendez. >> investigating a fatal crash involving a bicyclist and a dump truck. the cyclist was hit and killed at a westbound highway 12 off ramp to stony point road. the victim's name has not been released. this is the third fatal crash at that intersection in a little over a month. president trump and members of the first family visited pittsburgh, pennsylvania, today to mourn those lost in the synagogue shooting. local officials there hope the event doesn't become political. >> we would hope there would be no distraction among politics at
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this point. no rallies no events, no photo-ops. none of those things. we need time to heal. >> a crowd protested the president's visit. pennsylvania's governor and pittsburg pittsburgh's mayor declined to meet with the president. the president of the united states is always welcome said the rabbi. more than a thousand people poured into a synagogue to honor two brothers who died in the massacre. mourners at the funeral including about 100 players, coaches and staff of the steelers. the victim's sister formerly worked for the team. abc 7 news is committed to building a better bay area. focusing on finding solutions to the big issues in our neighborhoods. >> today we're following up on stories from oakland and san francisco. about two weeks ago, san francisco police arrested more than 80 drug suspects in just seven days. >> big sweep. abc 7 news reporter vic lee reported on the arrests at the
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time and has an update. vic? >> reporter: dan, it should come as no surprise to those who follow crime patterns here in the city. now, the police did make a huge number of arrests in that operation in the tenderloin. abc 7 news learned that most of them are now out of custody. many followed -- >> for six from october 10th through the 16th, undercover officers arrested 63 people in the tenderloin and charged them with multiple drug offenses. most were accused of selling narcotics to undercover officers during buy busts. police say this man was caught with 124 bind wills of cocaine. it was his third arrest in the tenderloin this year. carlos contreras, arrested for allegedly selling cocaine. violated a stay order. it was also his third arrest this year. also arrested for selling drugs, jase lien did he loo who had 25
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baggies of powdered cocaine. 92 baggies of heroin and 25 baggies of meth. she violated multiple stay away orders from the tenderloin. >> the officers are out there doing their jobs. >> tony montoya heads the police union. >> they're just literally, like a catch and release type program. there's no real incentive for the people to stop doing what they're doing. >> abc 7 news learned that 80% of the 63 suspects were out of custody one week after their arrests. documents reveal that the d.a. charged three quarters of the cases, considered a good charge rate. judges dismissed 15 of those charged. those out of custody made bail, were put on probation, had their cases dismissed or reduced or they're awaiting court dates. >> the people on probation, you'll see them add a second or third probation already or extend the current one they have. >> this man is with stop crime
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sf, a group that monitors judges' records. >> anecdotally, it seems like they might be too lenient when people are back out on the street over and over again. >> reporter: the city, as we all know has a lot of programs to help get the drug offenders off the streets. but you have to have the willpower, the will to do that. and the kind of money these drug dealers make, it's hard to pass up. vic lee, abc 7 news. >> much appreciated, vic, thank you. san francisco's mayor made a major push for a controversial program intended to help the mentally ill. abc 7 news was at zuckerberg san francisco general hospital where mayor london breed will introduce legislation to allow them to implement a new law. it gives the option to force mentally ill people into treatment if they can't care for themselves. senator scott wiener spearheaded it on a statewide level. >> we have a very robust
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conservatorship. it's called jail. our jails should not be the primary mental health providers. >> breed also launched an effort to increase the number of beds for the mentally ill from 7 to 14 and wants to add 40 more next year. the city of oakland is celebrating the opening of the second rehousing facility. the building will offer formerly homeless people a clean, safe place to live as well as treatment and job placement services. >> up to 180 formerly unsheltered residents a year will get shelter services, care, support on their path to self-sufficiency in this beautiful historic julian morgan building. >> officials say the first residents will begin moving in sometime in early december. san francisco voters will decide on a divisive ballot
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measure that would raise taxes on the city's largest companies to fund services for the homeless. one of the biggest proponents of proposition c is sales force ceo marc benioff. i sat down with him live on abc 7 news at 4:00 where he said there's an urgent need for tech companies to fight chronic homelessness in the city. >> you believe businesses should have a bigger role than just making money? >> i certainly do. i'll tell you, that's an idea i learned in san francisco, the founders of the gap, lee view straw -- levi strauss. they said the business of business is not just business. the business of business is improving the state of the city, of san francisco. you can see that in the history of our city and the contribution that is they've made to our city. >> one of the most high-profile proponents -- opponents is jack dorsey. abc 7 news reached out to them
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and expect to hear opposition comments by the end of this week. you can get involved and join our project of building a better bay area. share your ideas online by using the #better bay area. we'd love to hear from you. uncomfortable seat on a b.a.r.t. train as a man pulls out chainsaws. stunned riders took pictures and video. the quick response from b.a.r.t. police. upgrading parking lots was approved in san jose. part is an invasion of privacy. i'm meteorologist sandhya
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a san francisco man arrested after he pulled out two chainsaws on a b.a.r.t. train. a concerned rider filmed it and reported her to b.a.r.t. leslie brinkley is live at the lake merritt station in oakland. leslie, this is extremely unsettling. >> reporter: it's a wild story. i mean, people get on b.a.r.t., they're guarded about their safety. they might worry about getting their cell phones swiped. but yet something no one has seen before, passengers going face to face with a man wielding two chainsaws. >> literally, i look at a guy with two chainsaws. >> johanna was on her way home
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from work when she looked up and saw a man armed with two chainsaws out in the open by the door. >> that's when he starts joking with everybody, it's halloween, it's halloween. and then he says the whole texas chainsaw massacre, b.a.r.t. massacre. he said that joke. i could see people, like, concerned and scared at this point. so i'm like let me record this. >> she tweeted b.a.r.t. for help. she says they replied right away. telling her to post-it on her app or change trains. she was afraid to draw attention to herself. >> he went to a guy and ab was like -- he literally made a sound. and the guy was like no, that's not funny. >> she watched him in horror for more than 15 minutes clicking the red saw. then unboxing a new battery powered chainsaw and trying to start it. as he exited at the lake merritt station, he was arrested by
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b.a.r.t. police. >> he was looking surprised like he doesn't know why he's being arrested. like you could see the relief. everybody is like okay, we made it. b.a.r.t. police released a statement saying they arrested the man, 47 years old from san francisco. for making criminal threats and other outstanding warrants. >> we ride the b.a.r.t. every day. we don't want to feel we'll be a saus salted here. >> b.a.r.t. police were monitoring. i saw them a few minutes ago. >> one question from a lot of the passengers is how with all the cameras, all the security did a man holding two chainsaws out in the open get through the fare gates on to the platform and on to the train in the first place? in oakland, i'm leslie brinkley, abc 7 news. >> a mading. thanks, leslie. in the south bay, the san jose city council okayed a multimillion dollar project to upgrade the access and payment
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systems at parking lots owned by the city. as reporter chris nguyen explains, one part of the project is raising concerns about privacy. >> if you've traveled to downtown san jose during a big event, you're likely familiar with the crowds as well as the ongoing traffic that comes as drivers go in and out of one of the eight parking garages owned by the city. the outdated equipment could be to blame. >> equipment of time and reliability is an issue for us. this afternoon, the san jose city council approved a project to upgrade the garages. on the horizon, online reservatio reservations, scannable validations and the ability to use apple pay are among the features. >> people have expectations and they want to get in and out of a parking facility quickly and effortlessly and don't want to be hung up. >> the new technology comes with concerns. it calls for automated license plate recognition software similar to what's being used at mineta san jose international airport. >> take my license plate and nop
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of my information is out there. what's attaching to it is the biggest thing? how much information do you need for it? >> airport representatives say the system is a stand alone not connected to an outside source. the cameras photograph license plates and convert them into machine readable texts tagging them with the time and location. >> when there's enough ticket situation, we are able to identify when our customer entered our lot and is attempting to exit our lot. >> the city hopes to be again the first phase of installation downtown in february or march of next year. the airport should see upgrades down the road. in san jose, chris nguyen, abc 7 news. google's car spinoff is getting the green light. approved to test cars on the state's public roads with no backup driver. the dmv announced today they've granted waymo a permit. to start, they'll only be allowed in certain parts of the
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county. unclear when they'll hit the road. now your accuweather forecast with sandhya patel. >> we know one thing for sure, it's going to be an amazing day in terms of weather. we have a few clouds passing through the bay area right now. i do want to turn the attention. until 6:00 a.m. tomorrow. still gusty in the hills. gusts could reach up to 55 miles an hour with at that low humidity. 9 to 19%. be extra careful. any fires that develop will spread rapidly and humidity levels now are low in spots. concord, 17%. vacaville, 10%. livermore down to 16%. concerning, of course, you combine that with the wind, gusting to 20. mt. diablo 20 miles an hour. that, of course, is something that we need to watch out for. temperatures right now, it is really just absolutely gorgeous. anywhere from the 50s to the 70s. those temperatures manage to rise a few degrees, low 60s to
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the low 80s. we'll keep that going. let's take a look at the all-important halloween forecast. for the little ones, the morning parades. temperatures in the 50s. 60s. under bright skies. so they don't have to worry about thick layers under the kos tu tums for the trick-or-treaters, up to the low 70s tomorrow night. the weather looks fantastic for halloween and we'll take a closer look at the evening forecast. take a look for yourself. we'll go to the full graphic. sun goes down at 6:12. 630s, 70s for the adults going out, clear at 7:00 p.m. a haunted evening. we're looking at temperatures at 8:00 in the 50s, 60s and chilling at the coast by 9:00 p.m. you see the numbers dropping down to the 50s. a live look from the emeryville camera. high clouds are passing through. dry, gusty in the hills overnight. fire danger willemn elevated through wednesday morning. it is going to be dry and mild
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for halloween. the temperatures in the mid-40s to 50s. windy in the hills. the winds will subside after 6:00 a.m. setting the stage for a beautiful day. warmer than today. 84 in the south bay in gilroy. 79 in san jose. 78 in sunnyvale. 77 in redwood city. 76 san mateo. upper 60s near the coast. no weather extremes here. just warm fall weather. 72 in downtown san francisco. 66 in daly city. i should say mild to warnl. warm owe. fa79n. the east bay, 77 oakland union city. download the app and track the temperatures any time you want. really in the mild territory for the east bay. 81 in livermore. a look at the seven-day forecast. a halloween treat. mid-60s to the mid-80s tomorrow. november warm with low 70s to
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mid-80s. we see this around the time of year and it's happening. by thursday night going into friday, that fog is rolling back in. it's going to start the cooling process for friday. continuing into the weekend. just a reminder, daylight saving time ends on sunday. you will want to actually fall back one hour and you'll get that extra hour of sleep. so dion and dan, something to look forward to besides the nice weather. >> 84 degrees on halloween. it's like i'm going as a swimsuit model. >> you don't need heavy layers. >> ooh la la. > if you're thinking of buying a new car, check consumer reports. that's next. new at 6:00, a major problem for north bay fire victims. their home is gone and they don't have enough
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recently, more than $20 million has been spent in the race for superintendent of public instruction to attack my friend tony thurmond's record. well, i've worked with tony, and no one is more qualified to lead our state's schools. that's why tony thurmond is the only candidate endorsed by classroom teachers and the california democratic party. because tony will stand up to the donald trump-betsy devos agenda and has always protected our local public schools. join me in voting for tony thurmond. let's put our kids first.
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a new car, you want to make sure it's going to last. >> reliability is a concern. >> very good thing. actually, consumer reports just released the exclusive new car reliability report. it has the brands of autos considered the most reliable. you might want to stay away from also. every year consumer reports surveys its members asking about serious problems they experience with vehicles in the past 12 months. the annual auto reliability survey, the largest of its kind gathered data on more than half a million vehicles. >> just because it's new doesn't mean it's trouble-free. according to this, power equipment and transmissions continue to give owners headaches. >> lexus, toyota and mazda were the top brands with mazda moving up nine spots from the previous year. brands at the bottom of the list were tesla, cadillac and volvo. >> the model s electric sedan
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lost its recommended status because of issues with the air suspension as well as body hardware issues like the car door handle. >> as issues become more common, some car owners reported trouble with their car's turbo charger and engine computer. a few needed complete engine replacements. >> the truth is, when automakers introduce new tech noll, it can take several model years to get it working correctly. >> the cars on top as the most reliability were the lexus gx, toyota prius c and the mazda mx-5 miata. the least reliable. ram 3500, tesla mod and> t cor probably not a place you've thought of visiting. >> no. but plenty of people are chadf halloween. we'll find out why when abc 7
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news at 5:00 continues. the abc 7 commuter challenge. four reporters, four ways to travel. one lousy commute. >> we are monitoring everybody's progress right now. it's frustrating to be out here and see that light change from green and red and then green again. >> so what's the fastest way across the bay? >> in the time it took lyanne just to get off the bay bridge -- >> public transportation is the way to go. b.a.r.t. >> challenged by your commute? tell us about it. share your first, it contues to pay paramedics while we're on break. second, it ensures the closest ambulance can respond if you call 9-1-1. vote yes on 11.
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proposition 11 "a common sense solution" to protect public safety. it ensures the closest ambulance remains on-call during paid breaks "so that they can respond immediately when needed." vote yes on 11.
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coming up tonight on abc 7 news at 6:00, north bay wildfire victims hold nothing back during a rare opportunity to vent frustrations face to face. >> the bay area building fbi investigators say accused bomb maker cesar sayoc researched shortly before his arrest. you might have heard that whitey bulger died today. did you know about his personal fascination is alcatraz. all coming up at 6:00. on the peninsula, one person's haunted house is another person's crime scene.
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>> that's the approach that employees took at the san mateo county coroner's office. they hosted an open house to let the public know if there was a real knife in a real human or a real blood-stained shirt. >> they would collect eftd, of course. the public saw all the different ways that evidence is collected at a crime scene. >> they don't get how long it takes to do a crime scene and bring the evidence back and actually test it and the steps we go through to test it. >> visitors were able to see how ballistic tests are done and try their hand at collecting fingerprints and testing substances for blood. >> the open house that happens every year around halloween. make sure you check that out. >> yeah. i think i would like to learn that myself. >> interesting. world news tonight with david muir is next. i'm dion limb. >> i'm dan ashley. for all of us here, hope to see you again in half an hour.
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tonight, as we come on the air, the president's controversial visit. landing late today in pittsburgh, the president and the first lady, as the funerals are now under way for the 11 people lost in that synagogue. a sea of protesters, signs reading "words matter." some neighbors yelling from their front yards. >> let the families grieve! this is our neighborhood! >> the president deciding to visit, even as some local leaders said it was too soon. also breaking tonight, the notorious boston crime boss whitey bulger is killed in prison. after living in hiding for years, he was serving life in prison. was it a hit inside those walls? the deadly school bus horror today. a pickup truck hitting four children, three members of the same family are killed.

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