very hot day in the forecast, but coming up, we will take a look at when the cool down is coming our way. >> thank you kindly. we will turn to mike inouye for a spare the air day. >> that's right. there you go, mike inouye, everyone. >> we didn't have time to change out the music.

it was supposed to be happy birthday to scott. we have cleared that bay bridge toll plaza and showing a few cars to highlight. you can choose any car and have it on your wish list. we have a nice easy drive out of the east bay. look at the map showing the speeds out of the area. it is spare the air day as we are talking about so you are urged to carpool or transit. the system is taking you along this way. no delays so far. easing into the commute. no major construction blocking the roadways. the chp cleared of all incidences. concord and bay point and richmond, no delays reported for this system and bart reporting 21 trains on time and they'll double and almost triple that by the end of the commute. >> jennifer said it was hot. you say it's a spare the air day. what presicily does that mean?

christie smith is at a castro valley bart station with more. >> reporter: good morning. when you see people heading to the bart station at 4:15 in the morning and they have a t-shirt and no coat, you know it will be a hot one. the air quality is not really good. people are urged to take public transportation. public transportation is not free today like it was previously. still you are being urged to take it or koor pool or walk. anything but driving around alone. this is the third spare the air day in a row. the eighth this year. the heat had people doing their best to avoid it like eating ice cream, getting into the shade or staying inside with the air conditioning after we complain about a long and cool summer. speaking of air conditioning, pg&e was recommending conservation after the heat knocked out power to more than

30,000 customers saturday due to a system overload that went on for nearly three hours as temperatures soared to around 90 and above. to avoid the outages in the future, pg&e is suggesting that you shut your windows and keep blinds closed in the morning. to keep the cool air in from the night before. set the ac to about 85 when you are not home and 75 degrees when you are home. live in castro valley, today in the bay. >> a brazen attack with a mugging on a industry street. police searching for the person responsible. it happened around 1:00 in international boulevard. the victim suffered a cut to the head and was taken to the hospital. police have not released a description. a third suspect will number court in connection with the shooting of a police officer. francisco sierra is a suspected street gang member and is

changed with being an accessory in the attempted murder of officer tod dark young three weeks ago. he was shot while he and another officer tried to arrest. he is still in the hospital after regaining consciousness a few days ago. is more interested in news from the federal court than albert brown after asking not to be the first man executed in california in four years. albert brown's attorneys filed the appeal after the u.s. district judge, jeremy fogle of san jose cleared the way for the execution. in 2006, the same judge ordered prison officials to stop the death penalty and overhaul the lethal injection cocktail after concerns it amounted to cruel and unusual punishment. since then, san quentin's death chamber has been rebuilt and the state adopted new regulation. the regulations have not been

reviewed by a judge causing concern about legality. >> i think it's a great concern that a judge is that familiar with this issue is not willing to say let's just take a deep breath and take a look at it. this rush to execution makes no sense, considering the enormity and the irreversibility of what we do. >> brown is on death row for the 1980 rape and murder for a 15-year-old riverside girl. he is set to die on wednesday. meg whitman and jerry brown will square off for the first time. no political commercials, just straight talk. we have a look from our sacramento station. >> a "los angeles times," usc poll shows jerry brown ahead by four percentage points. the latest field poll has them in a dead heat with 18% undecided. >> i think it will be as debates

go, it will be closely watched. >> they are going to be issue-focused. >> whitman is the novice debater. >> public appearances have had a lot of planted materials and planted questions. even her plan is say glossy brochure. >> she is a sharp, quick-whited person and knows jerry brown's record. when he talks about one side, she can highlight how he stood on the other side. >> for brown the pressure is on. analysts said this is his first big chance to make his case to voters where as whitman has been doing it for months in costly advertisements. >> if you were born in the 70s or 80s, you have no knowledge of jerry brown as governor of california. no actual memory probably. >> political consultant believes the topics that will come up are the economy, jobs, the state budget. as brown has to reintroduce himself to voters, whitman has

the challenge of having to moderate her view since the time of the republican primary in order to win the more moderate voters. >> arnold schwarzenegger won the independent vote and the governorship. pete wilson won the vote and the governorship. dan lund grown didn't and failed. >> reporting now on october 12th, nbc will host their own debate between whitman and brown with tom brocaw moderating. you can see it live at 6:30. we will have extensive information about the candidates and the propositions. click prop zero near the top of our page. oakland candidates will go head to head. they will host the event from 7:00 to 9:00. the forum free and open to the public. topics are affordable housing, job creation and economic development.

>> if a group of voters in berkeley get their way, there will be more transparency in politics. a sunshine ordinance also under consideration in alameda. advocates have gathered enough signatures to qualify the proposal. it's unclear when it goes before voters, but work session set today would set an 11:00 at night curfew for meetings as well as require top leaders to keep their appointment calenders online. let's join mike inouye talking about the east bay and spart air. >> exactly. save the day, spare the air, exactly. >> no free ride. >> exactly. it meant free rides and transit in the past, but it's not in the budget. it is right next to it 80. we will show you the roadways that feel lighter today as the bart system is not reporting

delays. the commute with carpool or bike or walk to work if you can. if you live in oakland and live in san francisco, walking is not feasible. just an option. some folks are wauging from a street to horizon, but that 62 marking a nice easy drive out of antioch through pittsburgh and bay point. off of willow pass road into pittsburgh, but no major issues right now. back to you. >> thanks kindly. i went car shopping all over the east bay. >> what are did you get me. >> it's in the parking lot. back to fremont and man, was it hot. >> the only thing you could have had worse is go out today. it will be hotter. thankfully it cooled down at night. we are in the 50s and 60s and that does help with the heat we will be dealing with this afternoon. very hot temperatures are expected inland. we are expecting triple-digits

and also like we have been saying, the air quality is horrible. if you are outside and you like to exercise, take it easy along the east bay and down through the southern valleys. very bad air quality and we expect that to finally come to an end by the middle of the week. today will be the worst in terms of the heat. we are forecasting temperatures to be triple dimmingits in livermore, concord, fairfield. watch out for the heat and the air quality will get better. more of an onshore flow. that's not going to happen today. the highs are 98 in san jose and east of there we are in the triple-digits. hard to believe as we are in the end of september. >> sounds like a good time to go to the beach, but beachgoers are going home with more than they bargained for. what's causing a nasty rash at one east bay beach. one woman said she figured out thou detect a certain kind of cancer in a matter of minutes. hyundai's big recall.

the model involve and the potential problem. [ female announcer ] jerry brown and oakland's schools. what were the facts? fact: march 7, 2000. brown asks voters for new mayoral power to appoint school board members. he gets it, and promises better schools. but the drop out rate increases...50%. the school budget goes into a 100 million dollar deficit. the schools become so bad...the state has to take them over. it was "largely a bust," he admitted. jerry brown. failure as governor. failure as mayor. failure we can't afford now.

you are looking at a live picture of oakland where it is going to get hot. there is nowhere to escape. the further east you go, the hotter it gets. we will take a look coming up in weather. the tables turn on teachers. a public forum at uc berkeley will grade the best methods of evaluating teacher performance. experts from media and policy

groups give their takes. it's meant to better prepare journalists on a report on student testing and performance. it's available 1:30 to 4:30 on the uc berkeley campus. we know what is giving swimmers and waders a nasty rash. bubble snals. to be more specific, a parasite carried by san joss. there a lot of them off the crown memorial state beach. the parasite causes swimmer's itch, similar to poison oak. no one knows how the japanese snails arrived in the bay, but some speculate they could have come on the hulls of ships or accidentally introduced by bay by oyster farmer. bubble snails, mike. bubble snails. >> bubble snails from japan. look at the roadways after that wonderful story. we were at a party park that had

no bubble snails that i know of. a 14-minute drive in through livermore where it will be warm or shall we say hot. jennifer will give you more details, but an easy drive westbound. eastbound is where we are seeing the slowing. we always see it there every day. we will watch for that to clear up and no problems going down highway 84 where we have that express lane. we are watching for slowing and last monday was tough, but it was the first day. a nice easy drive into the city. look at the view. >> gorgeous. good morning to you. it will be wicked hot. >> wicked hot is a good way to say it. we were talking about it all day. that bubble snail story getting to me though. bad air quality around today. if you are sensitive, you don't want to be outside. in the east bay, very high numbers and a lot of pollutants. air is stagnant.

a bit of a sea breeze yesterday, but not much of that today. these are a look at the 8:00 a.m. temperatures. 50s and 60s. the mornings have been nice and cool, but to the noon hour, 94 degrees already in livermore. 93 in concord. 94 degrees in fairfield and the sun beats down all day. that will warm us all the way to 101 in concord and 101 in livermore and 103 in fairfield. the beaches will be in the 80s because there will be less of an onshore flow. hard to escape the heat today. thankfully this will be the hottest day of the week and we cool it down. >> nbc will have a new boss. courtney reagan joins us where no doubt they are tidying up and looking busy. >> good morning. futures have been higher as we kickoff the trading week. asian markets started off with a bang and responding to improved

u.s. indicators and news of a stimulus plan for japan. europe is higher in early trading. they have a couple of hours left to go. no significant points out today, but plenty to come this week. jobless and claims on the health of the consumer. the u.s. is on a winning streak and the dow rose 190 to close at 10,860. that's where trading begins for the do skbrks the nasdaq added to 2381. big news for the parent company. yesterday comcast's chief operating officer has a new ceo of nbc university when the merger issued and nbc was expected to close. both said he will work during the transition and comes on the heels of the man who spent his entire career at nbc and announcing his planned departure from the company last week. >> thank you.

hyundai motors is recalling so nata sedans because of problems with the steering wheels. 140 built from december 9 through september of this year are affected. no accidents or injuries have been blamed on faulty steering wheels. hyundai said it's recalling the so natas just to be extra safe. five people are injured after a water taxi crashed into a dock in seattle. they believe an engineer malfunction caused the west seattle water tax to crash. the captain warned the passengers something was wrong and helped them get ready for the crash. water taxis are critical to the commute in and around seattle. the monday morning float to work should be unaffected. a levee in wisconsin protected the town of portage for 120 years, but that is as long as it holds out. the sand levee failed, sending

folks scurrying to shelters. roads have been cutoff and no one stranded or hurt, but flood waters are expected to keep rising over several days. could the keep water oil rig explosion have been prevent and did the government respond quickly enough? two questions before the national commission on the bp deep water horizon oil spill and offshore drilling committee this morning. the two-day hearing will examine the response to the spill and the environmental impact and reforming rules on offshore drilling. the administrator and secretary among the witnesses. president obama signed an executive order creating the commission in may. should the tax cuts that president bush put into place be extend and if they are, should everyone continue to enjoy them or certain people? a big issue into the mid-term elections. kristin dahlgren breaks it down

for us. >> your taxes. the top topic on the sunday talk shows. >> we want to make sure that middle income america, working americans don't have an increase and the obstructionism has not allowed us to move forward. it's unfortunate. >> we leave here and adjourn without preventing the tax increases on the american people. it will be the most irresponsible thing i have seen since i have been in washington, d.c. and i have been here a while. >> at the core of the issue, the bush tax cuts set to expire in december. democrats want to keep them for individuals making up to $200,000. it may not come before the mid-term elections and republicans pounced. >> it seems like a moment where congress is putting politics ahead of prosperity. >> democrats insist it's the other side. >> it's an untenable position to say we will allow your taxes to

go up unless the president agrees to give tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires. pa. >> promising to extend cuts whether congress takes up the issue before or after the election. >> here's brent cannon with a look at what's coming up later on the bay. good morning. >> thanks a lot. election day is coming up fast and looks like the effort to legalize marijuana for recreational use is gaining steam. we will tell you why. the "today" show's matt lauer will talk on 1 w president obama about the state of education. we will have a preview that was and talked to matt lauer and a lot more on today in the bay. >> hundreds of people with dementia carrying gps so they can be tracked. the red cross in spain is responsible for the project. it can program what the families consider secure areas and danger

areas and if the person being monitored leaves the safe area, the family getz an alert. finding out if you have certain kinds of cancer may take a few minutes. a scientist claims she developed a tool that detechs breast, prostate and ovarian cancers and it can detect when the cells have not had a chance to detect tumors. all it needs is blood or saliva. it should be on the market in europe by the end of the year. no word if it makes it to the american market. >> more heat expected to pound the bay area today. high temperatures mean it is another spare the air day. today in the bay's christie smith is live at the castro valley station. >> good morning. remember when everyone was complaining about the long cold summer we were having? this is the pay back. this is the eighth spare the air day of this year. often times that means free public transportation, but that's not the case today.

still people are being urged to take public transportation and ride bart or carpool or work from home. anything to stay out of your car as a solo driver and add to the pollution. once again, air quality is expected to be unhealthy today. you are being asked to avoid strenuous exercise at the peak heat. this weekend heat got so intense, they knocked out power to about b 30,000 customers in castro valley and hayward for nearly three hours. fortunately it started during the early evening. that may have helped out a little bit. to help avoid this thing in the future, pg&e is asking people to keep their windows and blinds closed at night so in the morning you save that cool air from the night before. that's the latest here live from castro valley, today in the bay. >> the raiders kicking themselves over missed

opportunity this is morning. play by play. good job, christie. they kept up with the cardinals in the final successes of the game. the raiders set up the kicker for a 32-yard field goal. here it is. it will be the game winner. no. he missed three field goals last night. this is not a good stat. the highest paid kicker in the nfl. we may see jamarcus russell after he tweeted, toughest work out and no team affiliation. i will be back though. look for jamarcus russell. perhaps he can kick for the oakland raiders. good morning, jennifer. >> it was so hard to watch that game. i think it's mike though.

it is me. it was terrible to watch the game. so many missed opportunities. very bad air. a spare the air day because there a lot of bad particulates. a bit of an onshore breeze. the air will be very stagnant. things have cooled down. 50 degrees in napa. 64 in hayward. 58 degrees in sunnyvale and 53 in gilroy. at noon, most of us will be feeling temperatures in the 80s and 90s. unless you are along the area beaches, 93 degrees in concord and in livermore and nor o in fairfield. that's where we see the heat is on. 101 in concord and 101 in livermore and 103 in fairfield. a very hot day is forecasted, but thankfully it will be the hottest day of the week and things start to cool down and we will see more reasonable

temperatures. 98 degrees in san jose. things are cooling down as we get more of an onshore flow coming our way. wow! >> just ahead, new hope that the uc berkeley grads held captive in iran might be freed. the stepped up patrols to keep school kids safe. where police will be targeting.