no billows from a foreclosed property. this base is part of a dangerous trend. good evening everyone i'm healther holmes. >> and i'm ken wayne, we've been reporting on this for the last several weeks and it's happened again, a home burns and a squatter is being blamed for the arson. but this time the squatter is in jail for arson. >> reporter: before it burned,

it was full of squatters. concord police late today took 32-year-old transient michael moss into custody. just steps away from the building he is accused of torching. the fire broke out about noon in this four unit building and authorities say was intentionally set in a ground floor unit where moss had been staying. >> that building foreclosed that they were squatting in. >> reporter: tenants next door say ever since the building was vacated people have been breaking in and living there -pl some of them former tenants. >> they're all on drugs. they're all going back over there. they're all tweaking and there's a lot of stuff that goes on around here. >> i've called police several time, i've called the bank. >> reporter: neighbors have watched in frustration as the building became a flop house.

>> you have kids and you know that squatters bring in all types of degenerative people that do drugs. imagine if that fire wasn't caught right away and it went farther it just could have been a devastation. >> reporter: the fire does finally put an end to this place for squatting but as neighbors know it's a widespread problem. >> it's constant and it's all over the county. it's clearly not just here. >> reporter: former tenants who moved back not only tore plywood to get in, but they brought a bed, a tv. and they burned the place down using dinner rolls as candleholders. it's not uncommon to see fires started by squatters

staying in vacant homes. investigators say at least three june fires one in martinez, one in vallejo and one in oakland were likely started by squatters living in foreclosed or vacant homes. in oakland the fire claimed the life of one man and sent another to the hospital with serious injuries. police called in to investigate a fire that left a home unlivable. the fire was first reported by neighbors who smelled smoke. when firefighters arrived no one was home. the fire appeared to have started at the back of that house. one person was injured after escaping a two alarm house fire in martinez. the flames broke out at a home in trinity place at around 11:00 last night: firefighters first thought there was someone inside the home but later discovered the person was able to get out. that victim later had an asthma attack and had to be taken to the hospital.

no one else was hurt. the cause of that fire is under investigation. edwin ramos the man convicted and sentenced this month for three murders in san francisco was reportedly accused of murder two years before. according to the san francisco chronicle an informant told the fbi in 2006 that ramos had killed a rival gang member. no one was ever arrested for that killing. ramos' attorney did not comment on the report. ramos is serving three life terms for the killing of tony bologna and his two sons. a member of the family says, it's been very frustrating for the family to know that ramos had committed other crimes and had been the sub subject of prior murder investigations and was released. it was found that ramos was an illegal immigrant with a murder

record. the city will not help federal immigration authorities unless compelled to do so by a warrant. juvenile probation department officials say newer policies help ensure criminal offenders do not slip through the cracks. b.a.r.t. riders faced a major delay after a man wandered on to the tracks. police say a person walked on the elevated tracks in oakland prompted officials to turn off electricity. the man was arrested and service resumed about an hour later. meantime more than a dozen escalators at b.a.r.t. stations still out of service. b.a.r.t. says there are currently 15 in need of repairs. earlier this month as we reported 28 escalators were broken. b.a.r.t. spokesman jim allison says the civic center in san francisco is a particular problem spot. three escalators there are

still broken. allyson said he could not estimate when they would be repaired. a suspected car thief led police on a chase. it all started around 1:00 this morning when officers tried to pull over a car they believed was stolen. instead of stopping the driver sped off. that's when he lost control and crashed damaging the drive's side of the car. he sustained minor injuries. state and local authorities in san joaquin county are searching for an escaped prisoner. enrique contr era s was last seen wearing blue prison issued clothing. police are hoping a $5,000 reward will help find whoever

killed a 24-year-old man four months ago. michael duran jones was killed on february 10 on deveshon court. he was walking from his car to a friend's house when he was killed in a drive by shooting. several people were seen leaving the area after the shooting. silican valley has snagged a coveted prize. a patent office. >> reporter: patents help give companies such as apple their success. >> reporter: web developers received instant feed back,

awards and applause for their works. it's the time of invasion a local federal patent office based in silican valley will foster. >> almost half of the patents filed in the country come from california. so we really think having it proximate will make a big difference. >> reporter: according to lofgrin the office based in dc is backlogged. >> we've had almost a three year delay in the processing of patents which is absurd. >> reporter: there's more than 600,000 applications waiting review. including two from nvs technology. >> if you get sick like the flu, we would be able to tell you what pathogens are making you ill. having the patent office knowledgeable is very important

and having enough of them to deal with all of the patents that they get every day. >> reporter: lawfkin says the new office will deal with these issues but will take time. the cities of denver and dallas, texas will also be getting satellite patent offices but there's no word yet which city the silican valley office might open here. patti lee, ktvu news. people up the mississippi valley, 91 in chicago, 105 in atlanta, they're all dealing with record breaking heat on top of a deadly storm. 2.5million customers right now are still without electricity and you know what that means no air-conditioning, no fans. let's take a look at what's going on in baltimore right now. this is how people are trying to stay cool. ice is being distributed to

several areas that still don't have power. it's the only way some people can stay cool right now. the city of baltimore has extended a red code heat alert until tuesday. let's look at what's going on. the massive storm has caused damage from indiana to the eastern seaboard. >> reporter: big smiles for a small simplicity. there were smiles for an ice give away in virginia. and that brought many like sahri bonet. >> there's no ice around here nowhere, we went to like two supermarkets and there's no ice. >> reporter: several fatalities were reported including a 27- year-old man when his vehicle

was hit by a tree. eli blackwell was also in springfield and shares her experience. >> the wind just suddenly hit. it was really intense. ran inside. i had just put my stuff down. trying to figure out what i was going to do and i heard the tree. >> reporter: eight 100 plus records have been reported. it's close to the breaking point. >> all our phones are dead, in case of an emergency we can't make a call or anything. >> reporter: i'm april williams reporting. heading out to help, volunteers from the bay area travel to fire ravaged colorado. what they'll be doing for residents there. the boxing association a group

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♪ or this one. ♪ or, maybe this one. ♪ but when it's this easy to use citibank mobile check deposit at home...why would he? ♪ woooo! [ male announcer ] citibank mobile check deposit. easier banking. every step of the way. new time lapse video released today shows that massive waldo fire in colorado spring over the course of five days. take a look, the fire has raged now for more than a week burning 27 square miles. more than a thousand firefighters have been there battling the blaze which tonight is only 45% contained. some evacuated residents in the devastated area near colorado springs were allowed back to

see their homes. meantime authorities are assessing the damage there. they say 350 homes have now burned and 26,000 people have been forced to evacuate. today two salvation army officials from san francisco flew to colorado to relieve aid workers there. christien kafton talked with the volunteers about their mission. >> reporter: for weeks, fire fighters have been fighting the waldo fire, today the salvation army called for reinforcements from the bay area. aid workers have been assisting evacuees. >> there could very well be the opportunity that i'm serving on

a canteen, providing food and water to those firefighters on the front lines. we try to remain as flexible as possible so we can ensure all the needs are met. >> reporter: dunmore expects to help relieve the operations. both aids workers say any kind of donation from -- both aid workers say any kind of donations from the bay area are helpful but the biggest help is cash. if you want to help out you can go to ktvu.com. we posted ways for you to help those in need. both volunteers tell me they will be out for a two week deployment. christien kafton, ktvu news. meantime fire fighting here in the bay area. the reason why two fire

stations shut down today. veterans from northern california are back home after what they call a trip of a lifetime. ktvu news was the only station at sfo today to greet the veterans as they arrived from washington, d.c. there they toured the world war ii memorial which honors the 16 million americans who served in that war. >> i could not imagine you know what it would be like. it was unbelievable to see. it's a trip that's worth seeing for anybody that was in the service back then. >> reporter: the group honor flight hosted the trip which was free for the veterans. besides the memorial the veterans also visited washington's air and space museum. another search was held for a vacaville man who may have fallen from a san francisco pier. victor murrilo was last seen on monday night on pier 22. his family was outlooking for murillo yesterday. police say murrilo and a friend

had just left the dodger game. his friend said he looked away for a short time and murillo was gone. hope -- his family is holding out hope he will be found. murdoch followed up criticism that romney was playing it safe and not looking like a challenger. today the media mogul focused on romney's campaign team. he said, chicago pros will be hard to beat unless he drops old friends. after spending the july 4 holiday at camp david, president obama resumes his campaign with a bus tour. john boehner threatened an immediate repeal of what many call obama care. >> this has to be ripped out by

its roots. this is government taking over the entire health insurance industry. the american people do not want to get on this path. >> they will bring it up and when they bring it up they will ask for repeal. repeal of all the things i've said have children, have young adults, have seniors. >> minority leader nancy pelosi. now that froie gras is officially banned, activists are trying to get a similar law in other states. the group says if any liver is being sold from other animals it will be considered

adulterated. other new laws include anti bullying measures. a law requiring maternal health care coverage for all pregnant women, another requiring coverage of behavioral treatment for autistic children in young adults. new safety standards for tattoo artists. and a law requires used car dealers to put red stickers on junked cars. ken pritchett shows us how a club is trying to give burglars unwanted attention. >> so they broke in and broke it. >> reporter: they're inspecting the damage today, the broken glass but they knew it was here because of this. surveillance video of burglars captured last night at the east oakland boxing association. the thieves stole a brand new printer and more. >> on if video what you see is you see one here at the printer, then you see one here

at if computer. >> reporter: but executive director sarah chavez says what the video shows is one lone man breaking into the property. then hours later, two different men. >> it's like it was two separate attempts to break into the property on the same day. >> reporter: she says in june there have been four break-ins, the first one the worse with computers and phones stolen. they would have taken this computer last night but it was chained down. all of this at a place that helps kids stay off the street for free. the burglars have not hit the boxing gym but instead a portable building that's both office and classroom. well it appears the burglars came and left last night through this fence and after four burglaries in one month you would not blame them for putting razor wire or other security measures but that's not the kind of environment they want to create for the kids. but they did install cameras after the first break-in. >> for the crooks i would say there's surveillance cameras

all over our property. please stay off of our property unless you want your face all over the news. >> reporter: and they hope this is the last video that they have to share. in oakland ken pritchett, ktvu channel 2 news. pg & e releases a new safety plan. the two things the utility hopes to do by 2014. and what some san bruno residents are saying about this plan. the late legal move that blocked a controversial law in mississippi that was set to go into effect today. right now i'm tracking another batch of low clouds and fog ♪

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some san bruno residents have some worries about the effort. >> reporter: bob henzel and his wife spent the afternoon putting up pictures. they moved out after the explosion in 2010. >> it should have never happened. >> reporter: pg & e released a report details a new safety plan. >> it actually is a road map to our long term effort to be the safest utility in the united states. >> reporter: pg & e says it will build a training facility by 2014 that will put its employees through scenarios. >> having one facility will allow us to view the entire

system in one place. >> these sounds like things that should be going on all the time. not just now that they're under the spotlight. >> reporter: the henzel's are working to make their house like a home again. >> hopefully if they carry through with what they want to do it will help other areas so this doesn't happen ever again. >> reporter: new homes are under construction here but there are still reminders of the explosion like this vacant home where this home once stood. janine de la vega, ktvu news. news of the tonight in mexico federal election officials say a preliminary count shows pena nieto the candidate of the revolutionary party known as pri won the presidency. the early results show nieto with 38% of the vote with his closest challenger, seven percentage points behind.

nieto has promised to create new avenues for foreign development. and in nieva, 40 people were injured and several were killed in the deadliest attack, gunmen killed two police officers outside a church then threw grenades inside. as worshipers ran out opened fire on them. the attacks were the worse attacks in kenya since kenyan troops troops went after extreme militants. late tonight a federal judge ordered the close sure of an abortion clinic in tennessee. in today's temporary order the judge wrote the evidence shows

the law's purpose is to eliminate abortions in mississippi. for now the clinic will stay open. it's been more than a year now, congress has passed a law to improve food safety. why those