home in fremont. >> thanks for joining us. i am dan ashley. >> and i am ama eric with the story. >> reporter: in a case that sounds a lot lik a tv drama. police say 50-year-old maria moore was a friend of the victim. accusing of hiring marvel to carry it out. the motive money. >> a couple of life insurance policies. >> reporter: detectives say on october 8, the victim was shot multiple times in a room he rented inside this fremont room. moore had taken out the insurance with herself as the beneficiary. >> it is evil. an evil thing to do something

like this. someone she knew. >> reporter: mother and siblings were at the courthouse. but the defendants did not appear and the matter put off until the new year. but salvant's mother says innocent. >> it is eating up inside okay? really eating me up inside. >> reporter: police say it was a complex scheme that took a while to unravel. a large number of detectives showed up and disappointed by the no-show but satisfied that they cracked the case. >> we are working with the family. we had a close relationship with the family back in india and my condolences and prayers go out to their family and friends.

>> reporter: the victim was an executive chef at a restaurant in mountain view. his family, his wife and kids are back in india. and the next day he was supposed to board a flight to go back to india and see his family. they will be in court on january 11. eric thomas, abc7 news. thank you. in proceedings in case. instead of entering a plea today, cowell's attorney is on paranoia. showing ext >> he knows how to behave himself. if he was crazy, he wouldn't be

able to behave himself. >> if cowell is found incompetent, the case will be put on hold until he gets treatment. the san francisco company best known for its small credit card reader is set to become oakland's biggest tech company. square is opening up a building. it rivals the city's largest employer, kaiser permanente. ska square expects to open next year. square ceo says we are excited to join the oakland community as a partner, advocate and neighbor and customer of local businesses. we want to support our employees

wherever they are. uncertainty tonight in washington d.c. a government shutdown looms tomorrow. he will not sign a temporary spending bill because it does not include funding for a border wall. >> we are going work on adding border security on this. >> in terms of wall funding, that is a nonstarter. i think they know that. republicans are in a state of disarray. we don't know what will happen next. a billion including 5 billion for the wall passed the house on a party line vote. but the legislation appears dead in the senate. the necessary votes for passage are just not there. the partial shutdown is at midnight tomorrow night perhaps. now, to tell us how this will affect government agencies, lyanne melendez is live at the alcatraz landing in the embarcadero with that part of

our coverage. >> reporter: i am just going to start talking here because i just briefly lost you, let's take alcatraz cruises for example, they just got a 15 year contract to continue providing ferry service to alcatraz island. and they were thrilled. and then they got the news of a possible government shutdown. during the last shutdown in january, privately run ferries to alcatraz island ran on a limited schedule. this will be bad news for alcatr alcatraz cruises which a month ago could not operate for five days because of the air quality resulting from the campfires. >> just the disappointment that our front line have to deal with. once in a life fitime for a lot these visits.

>> reporter: in 2013, there was a shutdown during the obama administration. the national parks were closed back then. >> we headed to wine country then. so we are back five years now to take mom because she has never been. >> reporter: most national parks expected to remain open. but facilities like visitor centers that require staff will close. a small part of the presidio is managed by the national park service. last year while the warming hut park cafe remained open, it had limited hours of operation. the rest of the park is managed by the presidio trust. and it is never affected by a shutdown. it remains open but the staff will help the facilities within the national park service. >> bathroms are open to the

public and trash cans can emptied. so people can come on down and enjoy the park. >> reporter: i spoke to a private agent who sells tickets to alcatraz and other national parks and he told me that the problem he is having is that people are not buying tickets from him in advance because they think that these national parks are going to close completely. and as we mentioned before, that is not the case. i am live in san francisco. lyanne melendez abc7 news. thanks very much. family separation is not just happening in the border but here in the bay area. a group of high school students with a track record of stopping deportation is coming to the aid of melissa. her father is in ice deportation. the students are working with

u.s. senator kamela harris to grant her wish to have her father to come home for christmas. >> it really hurts because i never felt this and hopefully they let him go before christmas. >> melissa's father is in a detention center in yuba county. he was detained in a so-called collateral arrest while i.c.e. was looking for something else. the fair political practice commissions found b.a.r.t. used federal funds to support the measure. the fppc approved against b.a.r.t. during the

campaign. check this out. huge waves off the northern california coast have amazed beach goers and surfers alike. the too dangerous for fishing go out. abc7 news reporter carlos saucedo is live to explain. >> reporter: those strong waves made it too dangerous for fish boats to go out and trap crab. and to get your hands on one of those, you have to pay up. >> we have some crabs. but i can't help walk ups. >> reporter: your name better be on the crab list if you want any christmas crab meal. the crabs that are available are for pre orders only due to short supply. the reason, the monster waves

off the coastline. >> the wind swells, the speed of the set of the waves makes it impossible to fish. >> reporter: he then has to raise his prices to keep up with demand. the large crab is going for $13.99 a pound. that has gone up by more than a dollar since thanksgiving. >> we hope the people on the other side of the counter understands. >> we don't eat crab all the time, so it is a special day. >> reporter: now, it is time to wait for the next crab delivery to come in. >> i am willing to go get crab any time, but it is going to come down to the last minute. >> reporter: so again getting your hand on one of these babies will depend on whether there is fishable weather come this weekend. reporting live, carlos

high surf may have diminished but something to know. now we are tracking showers. >> also ahead, that tesla car fire turns out there is a lot being done to make sure it won't happen in the future. risk of christmas tree fires only takes seconds for the danger to spread. the problem with taking too many selfies. we are live at

caught it in the dash cam. this is the clearest shot yet of the meteor blasting through the sky. santa clara county fire investigation says they have not determined the battery fire that destroyed this tesla model much s david louie talked with a c concerned fire chief. >> reporter: in the case of electric car battery fires. saying they are so intense, he is calling for change. >> there is now enough examples here that have happened locally and around the world that in the design phase, something needs to be changed, need to be marked for identification. >> reporter: a burning lithium

battery. seven times more than a typical fire engine carries. they may be more concerned with keeping batteries dry. >> there needs to be standards out there so those common practice if a specific way that we can deal with putting out certain types of fire. >> reporter: a few years ago, improvements were made. electric cars are more challenging because their batteries designed to provide high voltage. >> there are advances working with battery chemistries and battery containment. >> reporter: notelectrical vehis

can configure their batteries in the same way. there might be a call for standardization. menlo firefighters demonstrated what not to do. a frozen turkey can start a disastrous fire. how demonstrating how fast a tree can spread. being prepared is key. >> having as rking detectors. >> some other tips include common sense items like keeping the tree awayro cdles and open fireplaces. >> it just takes a second. pier 39 is spreading holiday

cheer. >> a little grey out there. spencer christian is there live. >> reporter: celebrating a happier holiday season. joining me now is chief operating officer. we may see a video of the tree lighting a couple of years ago. but i want to talks about your crab. >> running strong and great for the holiday gatherings. >> reporter: what about folks who want to prepare crab at home. >> so you can buy it at the store already cooked or get it live, steam it or boil it. o one of our favorite preparations is the garlic roasted crab.

preheat it in your oven. roast for eight to ten minutes and you have a nice garlic roast crab. wine. >> you had me at garlic. i should mention that the tree lighting occurs every hour on the hour from 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. every night. if you miss the 5:00 lighting, you have 6:00, 7:00. come on down to pier 39. >> thank you so much. now onto the weather sandhya patel is here with that. >> we are tracking showers. ukiah reporting light rain. it is not a lot, but it is a start. so across highway 101, old river road, still running behind. we definitely can use any

moisture we can get. still foggy. 2.5 miles of visibility in hayward. clouds moving in over head. 54 in san francisco. 53 in san jose. most of you were in the 50s. and the view from our emeryville camera a murky one. low 50s for everyone from santa rosa to concord. i want to show you this in case you are heading up to the mountains. you will want to get out of town this weekend at the latest. monday going into tuesday, you will major into heavy travel issues. snow is coming. here is a view from our santa

cruz camera. light showers spreading tonight and winter begins tomorrow at 2:23 tomorrow afternoon. coming in for tonight, scattered showers. rainfall from a trace to .2 of an inch. showers really fall apart as we head towards 11:30 at night. the system is weak on the tail end of it. still enough to make roads slippery. 5:00 a.m. slippery roadway. tomorrow afternoon clearing skies as we head towards 4:00, 4:30. most of you will be a few hundreds to .0 11 of an inch. allow yourself extra time. some fog around and it will be

thick. tomorrow afternoon, we will call it a mix of sun and clouds for friday. for the weekend, king tides coming up saturday 10:20 in the morning. so higher tides that could lead to low lying flooding especially if you are head ought fing out walk or a jog. winter starts at 2:23 tomorrow afternoon. dry for the first half, and the second half chance of light showers. monday the storm coming in. it will certainly produce a heft amount of snow in the mountains and christmas is dry. >> thank you. as we continue, gone are

what does help for heart fait looks like this. entresto is a heart failure pill that helped keep people alive

and out of the hospital. don't take entresto if pregnant; it can cause harm or death to an unborn baby. don't take entresto with an ace inhibitor or aliskiren, or if you've had angioedema with an ace or arb. the most serious side effects are angioedema, low blood pressure, kidney problems, or high blood potassium. ask your doctor about entresto. ♪ the beat goes on. yeah! it's a sign of the times or

maybe our culture. people are taking so many selfies they are getting selfie wrist. >> happens all the time. reporter denise spoke to a doctor when the signs and symptoms. >> reporter: tina choi works in digital. she believes it is a sense of sharing a sense of yourself. >> it is about telling a story, telling your viewers and your friends where you are at and what you are doing, how active you are. >> reporter: all of that selfie taking started feeling tingling in her wrist. >> it felt like random sharp pains and it would prevent me from working. >> reporter: she is part of a growing population.

>> it is a form of carpal tunnel. what happens is this hyper flexion of the wrist. it is basically the nerve becomes inflamed and angry. >> reporter: dr. harrison says the problem begins when patients hyperflex their wrists. >> right in the moment let's take a picture right now, no time to set up. >> reporter: he taught tina how to hold the phone without too much bend in the wrist. showed her exercises. then do the same movements with a semiclosed wrist. you can try what he calls flappers. and after a few weeks

of picture taken at the raider's game. >> could be the team's last home game ever. that's next. >> we want to thank rich for this picture. can you see the hawk? >> i do. the hawk is in the middle. share your pictures with us with the #abc7. >> look how rich that picture is. >> yeah.

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keeping you safe, search acuweather in your app store and download now. coming up at 6:00, they are calling it operation wrecking ball. how authorities broke up a massive retail theft ring including hundreds of thousands of dollars in stolen goods. all of these jobs in our backyard. we know a lot of these people. >> we are going to show you the region cashing in on cannabis. and they are skiing in yosemite before christmas. that hasn't happened in years. something is looming that could shut down the slopes. that is coming up at abc7 news at 6:00. emotions are going to run

high when the oakland raiders host the denver bronco. >> but mondays can be the final game ever at the oakland coliseum. carr admits the team's uncertain future is definitely a matter of discussion in the locker room. >> i played on this dirt. i got a lot of blood, sweat and tears, broke bones out there. great games and had memories. and it is weird to think this could possibly be the last game. i don't want that, i know our fans. but i think it is going to be a great atmosphere. >> abc7 is your home for the final game at the coliseum. it starts at 5:00 p.m. if that in fact is the last game. certainly be sad for a lot of fans. i grew up seeing those guys. all of those guys. >> i know. that is going to do

tonight, breaking news as we come on the air. defense secretary james mattis is out, sending his resignation to the president. it comes just 24 hours after the president abruptly announced that he's ordering the withdrawal of u.s. troops from syria. the president saying the war against isis essentially has been won. drawing outrage, even from republicans, and now defense secretary mattis is resigning. also at this hour, will there be a government shutdown after all? just days before christmas. the president now saying he will not sign a spending bill without money for his border wall. also breaking as we come on tonight, the major storm system barrelli up the east dangerous driving, airport delays, just as millions travel. already bringing tornadoes. families huddled in their bathroom. ginger has the new track. the major airport shut down tonight.