police are on high alert right now after a deadly shooting in stanislaus county. an officer gunned down during a traffic stop. the suspect ran off. now a desperate manhunt is under way. i'm alexis smith. thanks for joining us. right now law enforcement across the state are looking for a man that shot and killed a police officer early this morning in stanislaus county. abc 7 news anchor jessica castro is in the studio with a look at the suspect's picture. >> reporter: hi there. the manhunt is under way right now. there's a blue alert for several counties including stanislaus and santa clara counties in the bay area. let me show you that man they are looking for right now and take a very close look.

police say he's armed and dangerous, and if you see him, you should call 911. he was last seen wearing a black jacket with white echo brand patches on the shoulder, a black shirt and silver chain around his neck and black shoes. the shooting happened here in newman around 1:00 this morning. newman is a small town between san jose, merced, officer who was killed was a canine officer and his dog was not injured in the shooting. he was an immigrant from fiji whose friends say was living the american dream and died doing his job. >> we shared the same last name. we're not relate, but we were friends, and -- and it's tough, you know, when somebody you know in our county, even though it's a large county, we still know a lot of the law enforcement

officers personally, so it definitely makes a toll, an impact. >> reporter: that officer you heard from there is from the stanislaus county sheriff's department. that's the agency leading this investigation. no word yet on the direction that suspect was traveling, but if you live in the bay area you likely got that blue alert on your phone, and this is the car that police say he was driving. it's a gray extended cab dodge ram pickup. his truck has paper plates on it, so we don't have a license number for you, but, again, they are on the lookout for this vehicle right now and this suspect. this is the guy they are looking for. they say if you see him though, don't approach him. again, call police. alexis, back to you. >> thank you, jessica. developing news from san jose where four police officers are on paid administrative leave after a deadly officer-involved shooting christmas morning. police say a female driver rammed her car into a police car at lee avenue and fruitdale ers oped shooting

video. the driver died at the scene. she has yet to be identified. the two were suspects in a double shooting that happened earlier in the area oflementsve. police chief eddie garcia is expected to release more information about the shooting tomorrow afternoon. happening now, herculez police need your help finding this woman. her name is brianna estrada and was reported missing by her husband and last seen yesterday around 5:00 p.m. she was wearing black leggings, a black tank top and a tan overcoat. she also has short green hair. call police if you see her or know where whereabouts. it is the first full day of business since one-quarter of the federal government shut down. negotiations between the president and democrats are expected to pick up as they battle over funding the government and southern border wall. as abc's kenneth moton explains, the partial shutdown is just one of several factors leading to wall street worries.

>> reporter: today americans could really start to see and feel the effects of the partial government shutdown. >> that's a disgrace what's happening in our country, but other than that i wish everybody a very merry christmas. >> reporter: president trump's christmas message to the country as he continues to lash out at democrats. house minority leader nancy pelosi told "usa today" trump is being a fear monger and using scare tactics to gain support for a southern border wall. the president also claimed without any proof that many of the 400,000 federal employees forced to work without pay over the holidays support his fight. >> many of those workers have said to me and communicated stay out until you get the funding for the wall. these federal workers want the wall. >> reporter: this government contractor with a family and in clue with his next paycheck. >> i mean, border security is great, but to basically -- it feels like extortion. he's holding our jobs hostage. if america is your first

priority, you should let us get back to work >> reporter: uncertainty is leading to wall street worries. so far it's been the worst december on record for stocks since the great depression. >> if you look at the economy right now, the real economy, the thing that we feel every day of our lives, things are okay. you look at the unemployment rate, we're now at the lowest level in 49 years, and when you look at next year, 2019, most economists don't see the positivity that we feel in this moment adding up to next year. >> reporter: this morning a white house economic adviser pushed back saying the positive holiday sales numbers will focus te market to refocus on the upside. on the shutdown, congress is not back until tomorrow, but negotiations could restart as soon as today. kenneth moton, abc news, washington. homeland security officials are considering asking the u.s. health department and fema for medical assistance following the second death of a migrant child this month. an 8-year-old boy from guatemala died at a hospital in new mexico

early yesterday morning. doctors had released the boy from a hospital on monday after diagnosing him with a cold and fever. his sickness worsened at a detention facility and then he was rushed to a hospital. a 7-year-old girl died earlier this month. u.s. customs and border protection has ordered medical checks for all children in its custody. turning now to the weather, okay, we've got pretty much everyone off of work today except for a few. >> yeah. >> a lot of those people are heading back and maybe returning some gifts,gifts,gifts,gifts,gii pretty nice day for whatever you're doing. >> reporter: in maryville, clouds over the coast. a few clouds rolling but and a pretty seasonable day if you're out exercising. a little bit of a chill. the beaches won't be as blustery as yesterday. high clouds and sunshine if you're going to be generally out and about like going pier 39 like these folks r.let me show you what's going off for the rest of today. mid-50s at noon and mid to upper

50s at 4:00, and we'll typically drop into the 40s and low 50s by 8:00 and mainly 40s by 12:00. that's a look at today's forecast and accuweather accuweather forecast. >> thank you, mike, and let the christmas returns begin today and tomorrow are usual lit busiest days for returns and amy hollyfield found that might not be the case this year. joins us now live from broadway plaza and walnut creek. >> hi, amy. >> hi, good morning. i'm not hearing a lot about returns. i'm hearing about these, the sales. these signs are everywhere. we're noticing that this is what is drawing people in. we're noticing that people are walking out of here with bags, not necessarily walking in with them. the sales rolled out first thing this morning, deep discounts to move merchandise after christmas. >> deals are really great. everything is 50% off or more. i just wanted to replenish my supply of bags and gift wrap and

tags and everything. >> reporter: target walnut creek old at 7:00 and shoppers showed up. not just buying wrapping for next year but some are also buying gifts. >> things off 75%, will save them for my kids. >> reporter: the store appears to be bracing for long lines of people returning their gifts, but that didn't materialize this morning. the manager told us over the years people have learned to wait a few weeks to do returns to avoid crowds. shoppers told us returns are not a priority today. >> no, no returns. just buying. >> reporter: spending is up this holiday season, 5.1% compared to last year. consumers spent $850 billion, an it looks like the spending will continue. shoppers were checking out the broadway plaza center shopping p early this morning. >> i came to see what i would find for myself. i shopped for everybody else

before christmas. now i'm going to shop for myself. >> reporter: sheer a look at th. i'll let you judge for yourself. i talked to some shoppers who agree it's not too crowded. they would advise for you to come on out. not lines when they are buying things and all of the merchandise is still orderly. it is still a little early. it could get worse this afternoon, but if you've got nothing else to do and you've got some gift cards burning a hole in your pocket, maybe a good day to come on out. reporting live in walnut creek, amy hollyfield, abc 7 news. >> you're convincing me that i need to shop this afternoon. thank you very much. >> a holiday tradition in san jose is closing up early this year. christmas in the park usually runs through new year's day, but this year a big football game is keeping if from crossing the goal line. abc 7 news reporter matt keller joins us from the plaza de cesac chavez in downtown san jose.

yocan see all this area here that's been cleaned out on the corner here of market. yeah, a lot of people upset on twitter and facebook telling me that they are upset about it close earlier than normal as another big event pushes it out. christmas in the park in downtown san jose brings joy to hundreds of thousands of visitors every year, but in 2018 college football is cutting back the holiday tradition a week early. >> normally we would run until at least newda year's day and that's to make way for the college football championship game. >> reporter: in the past taking down all the displays here in the plaza was a two-week job. this year they have only five days so they hired extra workers. >> this will be done by sunday? >> that's our goal. >> reporter: several events are being held all around downtown san jose leading up to the 2019 college football playoff santa

clara's levi stadium. christmas in the park executive director says the nonprofit is getting compensated by the san jose sports authority for any lost revenue and additional expenses. next year the holiday festivities will be back. >> reporter: actually our 40th anniversary, so we're expecting to be bigger and brighter next year because it's a special year for us. >> reporter: kristi yamaguchi's downtown ice will not be impacted. they will remain open until january 27th. matt keller, abc 7 news. >> thanks, matt. watch the national championship game on our sister network on espn. levi stadium is where it's all going down, monday, january 7th. are there jobs on the line? the reason the treasury secretary and federal reserve chairman may be feeling the heat from president trump. and the odd way kevin spacey re-emerged into the public spotlight following sexual misconduct accusations. and more news, more weather,

more local hot topics. "abc 7 news at 11:00 a.m." "is expanding to a full hour and we're calling it "midday

>> welcome back, and good news. supreme court justice ruth bader ginsburg is back after having

two cancerous nodules removed from her left lung. they were discovered last month after ginsburg was hospitalized and according to the reports she has no evidence of any disease anywhere in her body. a top white house economic adviser gave and treasury secr steve mnuchin will not lose their jobs. that's after several reports of president trump being unhappy about the recent market volatility. the chairman of the economic council of advisors kevin hassett says he's 100% sure that their jobs are more than a year after disappearing from the public amid sexual misconduct accusations, actor kevin spacey has released a bizarre "house of cards" inspired video drawing parallels between his character and real life. >> despite all the pop coopycoc

the headlines and impeachment without a trial, despite everything, despite even my own death i feel surprisingly good. >> in the piece called "let me be frank" spacey channeled frank underwood and is apparently defending himself in the court of public opinion. spacey was dropped from the hit series after the accusations surfaced. he's scheduled to appear in court next month on indecent assault and battery charges. breaking news from the north bay. sky 7 is over an apartment fire in san rafael on larkspur street. we do know the building was evacuated, and the fire was initially reported around 10:40 today. knocked down very quickly by fire crews. they said it was out by 11:03 or the majority was. we learned from fire officials there was one person who was injured. they were taken to a hospital. no word on their condition right now. the reason twitter is

calling foul on an image of draymond green released by the warriors. and the lengths one woman took to catch a porch pie rate in action. >> and i'll show you what a great day is unfolding right now. shaping up to be sunny with high clouds increasing again this afternoon and temperatures a little bit above average. upper 50s to near 60 degrees. i already have 2019 in

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start the car! start the car! the ikea winter sale. wooooooo! save up to 50% off select items in store only december 26th to january 6th. ikea. the high clouds were around this morning. look at that. a beautiful sunrise from our explortorium camera at pier 15. yeah. that's it. we may have a few more as we

head into the evening hours, so look for a pretty sunset. also, if you capture, it we would love to see it, hashtag it at abc 7. temperatures running 47 in vallejo to 55 in oakland. pretty close to where we should be. if you haven't been to the golden gate and the waiting for a picture perfect, there it is. winds less than 10 miles per hour. high clouds on the way. if you want a blue sky, head out there in the next few hours or so. near normal high temperatures. breezy starting tonight through friday morning and down in the valleys, chilly just like this morning and a series of dry cold fronts are going to drop our temperature, but they won't bring us any rain all the way through the end of the year and into the beginning of the new year. so 57 to 61 is where we end up in the next couple of hours as our highs peek around 1:30, it can. tonight 30s in the valley and est bay, morgan hill, low to mid-40s around the bay and wake up in the upper 40s along the

coast and in san francisco. radar returns on live doppler 7. kind of falling apart, but the white you see. those are the high clouds that will come in town just for the gorgeous sunset. in fact, once we take a look right here, pretty cheer at noon. definitely need the sunglasses. look at some green. you can see a few radar returns out over the ocean. high clouds are starting to stream in, and you notice by 9:30 we have one or two of those drops out there, but then, as we head towards the overnight hours and into tomorrow morning they are gone. so let's take a look at what's going to go along with the winds. unfortunately, 7:00 tonight. they start to pick up, but they get even faster tomorrow new york. look at that. 8:00. another peek at the winds at 7:00 tomorrow evening and our last peek of the winds will be about 6:00 friday morning and then they start to taper back to manageable level, so driving high-profile vehicles going to be a little tough on our bridges over the next 36 hours to 72 hours or so, so there you go, there's my accuweather forecast. temperatures today reach 60, but

that may be the last time as we're in the mid to upper 50s tomorrow and mid-50s mainly friday all the way through the new year which is tuesday. >> okay. that made me think of fireworks. are were going to be able to see them? >> yes, absolutely. >> okay. >> loving the forecast. >> forgot about that. thanks for reminding me >> thank you mike. >> a holiday chased by the would-be victim. >> i'm going to call the [ bleep ] police. i caught you on camera. >> i didn't take anything. >> yes you did. i saw you. >> a colorado woman wouldn't take no for an answer and got a notification saying someone was at the door and she saw a woman walking away with a package on her front step. we're going to the network for a special report. it sounds like president trump has made a surprise visit to iraq, and we have more information on that now. >> president trump and first lady melania trump meeting with

troops there. the president had hinted at this the trip in recent weeks, but for security reasons could not provide any details, and because this trip was meant to be under the radar quite literally, we're still gathering information. this trip does come with the backdrop of two major moments in his presidency, first being some of the chaos in washington right now, the shutdown under way amid his own staff shake-ups, but also, and more importantly as it relates to this trip, his decision to pull troops out of syria and an expected draw dawn in afghanistan, and his secretary of defense, we should mention, has just resigned. with that i want to get to our senior national correspondent terry moran who has been monitoring the president's movements from washington, and the president will be greeting our brave men and women overseas at a time he's signaling he wants to bring troops back home. >> that's right, tom. >> this has been his signature issue on foreign policy from the time that he ran which is put america first. we're done trying to take care of the rest of the world, especially through force of arms and large deployments. that's his philosophy, but take

a moment as we show these pictures. look at the smiles on the faces of the men and women serving over there. 14,000 americans in uniform in afghanistan, and for anybody who has been overseas with them, as i know you have. it's great for them, frankly, to be remembered at a time like this, by their commander in chief, whatever you think of president trump. this is a moment for them to be recognized, to spend some time with the president of the united states while they serve of the country, but you are absolutely right. this is -- this is president trump in a very different mission than president obama or president bush had. they were both very keen on making sure that the troops there until verdict are you however defined. president trump makes no secret he doesn't want america to have large deployment never ending and the president there with troops ithe combat

zone and making a difference for them on an individual basis as every president does. >> terry, i want to point out images we're just seeing, first time we're seeing images from the president and played it who have touched down in iraq and meeting with the troops there during this christmas holiday. terry, you know, he did take some flack for taking this long to get to a combat zone. he sure did. it had been noted that other presidents, president george w. bush and president obama made visits to frequently and he bridled at that the criticism pretty much as he did at every criticism but it was leveled at him because it was noticed, noticed by men and women in the uniform, certainly noticed by men and women in the media. this is what he's doing today and it's perhaps making up for that, but more important, once again, just these are young men and women serving a long way away from home in the christmas holidays. i spent thanksgiving in iraq with troops once, and it just

makes a difference for them to have these kinds of recognition, this recognition in iraq and afghanistan. it makes a difference for them. >> okay. terry moran. stand by for us. i want to bring in our chief global affairs anchor far radda -- anchor martha raddatz. what does it mean for the troop and also the timing of the trip because as we mentioned secretary mattis is resigning, announced he's pulling out of syria and the drawdown in afghanistan. >> reporter: well, as terry mention the, it means a great deal to the troops. it's always a great thing to be recognized by your commander in chief and having traveled over there, and it -- speaking of a conflict zone. i cannot remember really a first lady going into a conflict zone right there. obviously it's less dangerous than it has been in many years in the past, and i think that's

one reason why president trump chose to go toraq because it's considered a success story right now. they back isis. president barack obama, of course, started the pushback of isis and pulled back the troops in 2011 and had to 2011 and hadm back in 2017 when isis took over mosul which of course has been reclaimed by iraq and u.s. forces, so it is considered a success story. when you look there at the president and the first lady there in the conflict zone and national security advisor john bolton appears to be there as well, it means something for the troops, it means something for the families back home that the president would make this trip during a holiday. >> i was going to point out we seen national security advisor there. we don't see everybody traveling with the president. the absence of secretary mattis

and others. these are the first images coming in. live from the white house now. you just got some information about how this trip came together? >> that's right, tom. late last night on christmas the president boarded air force one, a surprised unannounced. mainly because of security reasons. others went to afghanistan last year and i went with pompeo on another unannounced surprised trip. the reason is it is so fragile on the ground, the security in this reason. we had to land and take two flights to get to ko bu l. when mattis landed the taliban tried to attack the air base after he left. and president trump was

reportedly nervous about taking off for the middle east but as noted, he's taken a lot of heat for not visiting the troop as broad and i'm sure it goes a long way for them. >> thanks for reporting. as tara said these trips are so dangerous they are under the radar because of security risk. as martha noted the first lady accompanying president trump is unique. we usually do not see first ladies visit combat zones, definitely not in recent memories. so again, president trump and first lady visiting some of the troops in iraq. we will have much more on abc news live and online and full wrap up tonight. we now return to our

>> our returning contestant tara whittle is halfway to the $1 million question, and she still has one lifeline. let's see how far she can get today on "who wants to be a millionaire." [dramatic music] ♪ [cheers and applause] hey, everybody, welcome to the show. are you ready to play "millionaire" today? [cheers and applause] tara whittle back with us from troy, new york. i know she's ready to play because you're already halfway to that $1 million when we were rudely interrupted yesterday and had to stop. you got to the halfway point of $10,000, and you still have a lifeline up there on the board. you got that "50/50." how do you feel coming back in and knowing half your job is done here? >> well, i feel pretty great, and i know that there's some work ahead of me, but, you know, they're just gonna be questions on the board and all the answers