led to a police perimeter and a helicopter search. is it too much? find out why the palo alto police department is not apologizing. and surprise funding. the police department in one bay area city could soon see a check from the federal government. >> reporter: be extra careful around schools and crosswalks. it's international walk to school day. i'm christie smith. coming up, we'll be talking about the benefits of it. as you take this live look at the san mateo bridge, i'm talking about the peninsula side where we have an accident, sig alert, cleanup and another accident. i'll tell you what they are and are not going to do to improve that morning commute, "today in the bay." from nbc bay area, reporting what matters to you, this is "today in the bay." good wednesday morning. i'm laura garcia-cannon. >> and i'm brent cannon. we want to start with rob taking a peek at your forecast. it is cool and in some cases maybe even a little rainy out there. >> it could impact your morning commute right now in the north

bay. areas around clear lake, ukiah, 101 in the north bay seeing some scattered showers and a few hit and miss showers around the peninsula and parts of the south bay. that's a sneak preview of the day to come. 60s and 70s for highs, low 70s san jose. 65 san francisco. near 70 in oakland. look out for some sun, some showers, maybe even an isolated thundershower for the afternoon. new this morning, oscar grant's family will hold a news conference this afternoon denouncing calls for a retrial forhannes mehserle. mehserle's lawyer says he has new evidence that will prove that the officer mistakenly grabbed his gun instead of his taser. he said the exact same thing happened to an officer in kentucky. grant's family says it's an attempt by the defense to just blame the victim. a judge will rule on that retrial request at mehserle's sentencing hearing which is set for november 5th. hundreds of east bay nurses are hitting the picket lines this morning. nearly 700 of them plan to strike at children's hospital in

oakland today to protest stalled contract negotiations. the hospital will remain open during the strike, which began yesterday and will continue through tomorrow. the nurses have not had a contract since may. they're still negotiating pay and benefits. administrators say that the hospital has lost almost $70 million over the past four years, which is forcing them to reduce costs. did the response fit the crime? palo alto police are taking a lot of heat this morning for what may be considered an overwhelming response to a phone theft last night. today in the bay's kris sanchez is live at palo alto police headquarters. kris, this morning taxpayers want to know why a stolen smartphone requires a manhunt and a police helicopter. >> reporter: good morning to you, laura. you might think that the response is disproportion nat, but you have to remember that hindsight is 20/20. when an office tries to make contact with a suspect and that suspect runs, the officer doesn't know what that suspect's motivation is. maybe it's a stolen phone, maybe it's something more. here's what happened yesterday.

about 6:00 last night the suspect stole a bike from a palo alto middle school area. then that person approached someone walking on east meadow drive near mitchell park, asked to borrow a phone. instead of making a phone call, the suspect makes off with the phone itself. the owner of the droid smartphone calls police and patrol officers spot the suspect. the suspect then runs. the officer ran after him but then called for backup. ultimately police set up a perimeter with the help of a few officers from surrounding agencies and a helicopter already on patrol was flying other the scene. >> elevated the response to a perimeter and to more police officers coming out was the fact that he fled from the police and started jumping fences in a residential neighborhood. >> reporter: now, the officer goes on to say that perhaps the suspect is running because he's afraid, maybe he's running because he stole something, maybe he's running because he's a wanted parolee. at that point they don't know. this morning we still don't know why the suspect ran because he did ultimately get away. by the way, no additional cost to the taxpayer because all of

the officers who responded to this weren't called in special, they were already on duty and already on patrol, including the helicopter that flew over the scene. in palo alto, kris sanchez, "today in the bay." we have an update to a developing kidnapping story we told you about yesterday morning. the man accused of abducting an 8-year-old fresno girl is now in jail. that kidnapping triggered a statewide amber alert. gregorio gonzalez was accused of kidnapping her. he is also charged with sexually assaulting her. a good samaritan recognized the truck and cut gonzalez off this traffic. that's when gonzalez allegedly pushed the girl out of the truck. police eventually found gonzalez and made the arrest. new this morning, the man accused of mowing down a fremont officer is apparently in police custody. our affiliate in los angeles says they got a tip that alexander diaz was arrested just after midnight in los angeles.

we're told diaz has been booked in an east los angeles county jail. investigators think diaz hit motorcycle officer patrick brower while driving a stolen van in fremont on monday morning. officer brower is a ten-year veteran of the fremont police force. he suffered a broken leg but is expected to be released from the hospital later this week. now, this is what monday's scene looked like. police say diaz accelerated toward brower, pinning him under the van. then diaz eventually ran off. once again, he has been booked into l.a. county jail this morning. san jose could soon see more police officers on the street despite recent budget cuts and layoffs. the u.s. department of justice is offering san jose police $7.1 million in grant money. it could be used to hire 16 new officers. recently laid off officers are those who were slated to be laid of are eligible for their jobs. the grant would fund their salaries for three years and the

city would have to promise for a fourth year of employment. san jose has 90 days to accept that grant. a lot of parents are going to be heading out with their kids to school this morning, but this time they're not going to be buckling up, they will hit the pavement for international walk to school day. christie smith is live in oakland with what's behind the new program. >> reporter: good morning to you, brent. you know, it's good for a number of things. it's good for the environment, it's good for a child's health. the idea here is really to get them moving, to get them out of their parents' car and ease up on the rush, rush, rush of the morning. literally thousands of schools across the u.s. are participating, even internationally. this has been going on for 13 years. we checked in and one of oakland's top performing schools, montclair elementary, where there are 450 students. about 80% of them live really close by. one of the challenges they have is that often the hillside streets don't have sidewalks. first lady michelle obama has launched also an anti-obesity

campaign and this really goes hand in hand with that to get kids moving. at montclair elementary, they have got a really interesting system to get kids to school safely by foot. >> kids all meet at a corner with a parent. whatever parent is walking the school bus, they walk together so they're supervised by an adult or two, but the rest of the adults don't have to come. it gives the kids an opportunity to interact with each other. >> reporter: now, this walk to school campaign runs through october. elementary and middle schools are also eligible to win a $5,000 grant from greenworks natural cleaners. those schools with the top participation in this are eligible. if you're interested for your school, you can find out more on facebook/greenworks. reporting live in oakland, christie smith, today in the bay. i want to check in with mike who has an update to a traffic situation he's been watching this morning. >> the peninsula, we've been

following a sig alert from menlo park. the big news is the sig alert has cancelled. that will improve your morning commute. what chp and the department of transportation are not going to do is run that sweeper. so they're not going to clear that roadway completely from the debris. an earlier accident occurred right around woodside road. the two cars involved in the accident have been cleared from the roadway. glass, debris and a little fluid were reported there. some folks with brooms have cleaned it up but in that backup a new accident northbound 101 at university avenue will cause more slowing heading up toward highway 84 and impeding your drive over towards the dumbarton bridge as well. to stay clear of the area use el demean owe real. a live look at the bay bridge toll plaza, things are getting a little crowded. cash lanes are showing a little backup but no metering lights just yet. we'll watch for that today. rob, a nice drive but a little glow to the lights from moisture in the air.

>> around the north bay your commute will be impacted by some showers. what used to be a pretty good line of thunderstorms west of sacramento drifting over the coastal range this morning, clear lake, ukiah, cloverdale looking at showers moving through and some hit and miss area of showers across the top of the peninsula rotating over towards pacifica. notice the movement there. kind of interesting, the showers are rolling in from east to west. an scattered showers, sunshine, even the chance of a thundershower especially to areas south of morgan hill for the afternoon and around the north bay hills. as we head into tomorrow the system heads on out. clearing and breezy for tomorrow. then as we get towards the weekend, temperatures will be warming up. today all types of weather around the bay area. sun at times. high temperatures running pretty mild. low 70s san jose, mid-60s for san francisco. in the north bay highs mainly in the low 70s. things should clear out in time for the playoff game tomorrow evening. from there we warm up straight

on through the weekend. caltrain may be having budget troubles, but not enough to keep key administrators from getting raises. we'll explain next. and you may have noticed a facebook outage. we will show you that and a football facelift coming soon to the popular social networking site. >> reporter: and it's a very busy morning for this factory in union city. it better be when you're in the business of making licorice and you've got less than a month to go till halloween. we'll take you to the red vines factory coming up in a live report. you're watching "today in the bay" with laura garcia-cannon, brent cannon, scott mcgrew and mike inouye. [ whitman ] they say california can't be governed anymore. i say baloney. this state belongs to all of us. we just have to decide we want to change. i know government isn't a business and it shouldn't be,

but the same values of accountability and focus that make california businesses among the best in the world could do a lot to fix sacramento. i'm on a mission to create more jobs, stop wasteful spending, and improve our schools. let's get to work. ♪ texting...blogging... all this technology, but you're still banking like pilgrims! it's time for new school banking, bubbie. interest plus savings at capitalone.com. why earn bupkis, when your savings can earn three times the national average!! three times the national average!!! new school banking at capital one bank. with interest plus savings, go to capitalone.com!!!!! what's in your wallet? somebody help me down.

good wednesday morning to you.

taking a live look outside this morning in the south bay over san jose. cooler as you walk out the door. could be some sprinkles in sight as well. some projected high temperatures, san jose 73, oakland 69. better check my eyes. san francisco expecting a high of 65, cool. and new this morning, nato under fire. check out some new video coming out of pakistan this morning. 20 trucks transporting supplies to troops in afghanistan attacked again by the taliban. it is just the latest attack on supply routes. they have become almost daily occurrences since pakistan blocked a key supply route last week. pakistan is angry about a helicopter attack that it says killed some of its own troops. it was a nato helicopter. nato says that chopper had been fired upon. there is new talks now to end the war in afghanistan, but the u.s. government may not be happy with the new negotiations. the "washington post" says the taliban and al qaeda are meeting

with afghan president hamid karzai in talks trying to end the war. talks say the comprehensive agreement would include some participation of the taliban in the afghan government and the withdrawal of u.s. and nato troops from the region. this next story looks like something out of a sci-fi movie. take a look. toxic red sludge escaped from a plant in hungary and it's spreading causing a state of emergency in three countries. it's so powerful it just pushed a van like a toy car. at least four people have died. six others missing after a reservoir failed on monday, allowing that sludge to escape in a town southwest of budapest. environmental leaders are pouring tons of plaster to try to slow down that sludge. the sludge has corrosive chemicals in it causing burns and eye irritation. a facebook outage leaves millions of users wondering what happened. issues started about 10:00 last

night. facebook says about 500 million users had a slow connection or could not connect at all. the issue was fixed within about a half an hour but not before thousands of people noticed the trouble. then facebook is not working was one of the top trending topics last night that was seen on twitter. the outage could be related to changes at facebook. scott mcgrew is in the tech lab with more. >> yeah, good morning, laura. facebook has invited the press to come to facebook headquarters in palo alto today to see something new. we think ipad app probably, new chat, new look. whatever it is, it kind of continues the applification of tech. this was inspired by apple. google copied it. now facebook and twitter and other high-tech companies have gone from simple e-mail annou e announcements to the press to a major event. the stock market opened at a

five-month high after seeing growth in the services industry tuesday. worry over the strength of the dollar could be a boat anchor this morning. google just moved into brazil. as always, google fans pore over images. here we see what may be a mugging. you know how google automatically blurs out people's faces? here's a gigantic statue in the the google computers thought was a person. a new poll shows some surprising attitudes when people think it's okay to be plugged in. we've seen twitter updates from the bride and groom, apparently a sign of the times, not just happening in silicon valley either. eric kline is here from pc tools. you guys did a study. we have some of the statistics for you. we'll flash them up on the screen so you don't have to remember all of them. take a look, this is what americans do. and it's twittering while honeymooning, 29%. 6%, eric, during a wedding.

and then 8% in church in general. does that surprise you? >> you know, it's a little surprising. what it does show is that we are a society that is constantly connected and we feel the need to be in touch with everybody in our networks at all times. >> we were talking earlier there's that feeling of, wow, something really cool is going on. you know what i should do, i should step aside and twitter it. that's just been in the last couple of years. >> let the world know. >> we've got some other statistics here, we'll flash them up on the screen for you. the study also found that 41% will update their facebook or tweet or text while eating with the family. and then 28% while eating at a fancy restaurant. do you make your -- do you have kids? >> no, i do not. >> would you make them stop texts at the table? >> i think i probably would. >> the mcgrew family, no phones, no texts. as we move into this, and you're the security guy and it's a little like when you have the retirement guy, you're going to

give us that reminder to save for retirement. as we move from a pc-based world into an iphone and android-based world, we've got to remember that some of the same security risks exist, particularly with social networks. >> they absolutely do. the bottom line is any time you're connected to the internet, regardless of whatever device it is, your information is in play. it is out there for the world to see if you're not properly secured. >> we haven't seen a disastrous attack on phones yet. is that because phones are more secure or is that because people are using security software or just hackers haven't bothered yet? >> i think right now because it's still a relatively new medium. i would say that the cyber criminals that are out there are absolutely devising ways and working very hard at coming up with ways to exploit those types of devices. >> and your company moving into mobile, as we've seen statistics, that even laptop sales are falling as people pick up the ipad. >> the new devices are definitely going to be a major factor in the market. pc tools specifically is more

focused only on desktop pcs and laptop pcs. any time you're connecting those two devices, the threats can travel back and forth very easily, so it's one big network. >> all right, thank you much. so there you go, laura, from texting from the table. promise me the triplets will not do that. >> no, no, no. they won't at all. we weren't even allowed to sing at all. >> that's interesting. >> maybe it was my voice. >> thanks a lot. the fight for a piece of michael jackson's estate continues today. an appeals court will hear arguments on whether the king of pop's father should be allowed to challenge those in charge of his son's lucrative estate. in november a probate dismissed joe jackson's objections to the overseers. he has appealed the court's dismissal. in times of tight budgets and service cuts, caltrain executives are under fire for giving themselves big raises. it comes despite their warning of financial problems. according to documents, administrative payroll jumped

14% over the past three years during a time when they said that they were looking to cut spending. the extra money spent on salaries would have been enough to cover the cost of running caltrain on weekends. weekend train service has been cut in order to balance the budget. 6:20 right now. the term mouth-to-mouth is quickly becoming outdated. new research shows cpr is most effective when you skip rescue breaths altogether. the study finds heart attack victims had a 60% improved chance have survival when given cpr with compressions only. experts say this method is easier to remember and keeps blood flowing between the brain and the heart. an east bay candy company gearing up a little bit for halloween. today in the bay's bob redell is at the american licorice candy. they make red vines. bob has a behind-the-scenes look. bob? >> reporter: you just see another batch that just came out of these massive warming ovens

here in union city. here, i want you to take a look at this guy right here to your left. what he's doing is he's actually doing quality control. you're checking the moisture of the licorice by sticking those prongs in the licorice looking for the right moisture reading. what have we got there? >> 22.4. >> reporter: that's usually what it tastes like when i get it in the store. i have no idea what i'm talking about. i just like my licorice tor moist. so after they come out of the oven, this is the final step in the process for the red vines licorice. this is the packaging conveyor belt. we have michael kelly again with the company. you know, one thing that surprised me all over the factory floor i've seen boxes like that with discarded pieces of licorice. i'm looking at them. it tastes fine, looks normal, what's wrong with them? >> there's nothing wrong with them. we've got some pretty extensive manufacturing equipment here. we have to control the flow of licorice through the system. if there's any slowdown at any

point in the packing process, we have to slow down the amount of licorice flowing through so some of it does end up as scrap. but it gets reused and some gets sent out to farmers and used for cattle feed. >> reporter: i had no idea. >> yeah, we don't want to waste anything. >> reporter: right now you guys are ramping up for halloween coming up. i know a lot of people hand it out for trick-or-treater. i think the thing that surprised people is that you are here in the bay area. i've been here numerous years and i didn't know that until a couple of years ago. why the low profile? >> it's true that traditionally american licorice has kept a low profile. we try to keep the focus on the brand. that's why you often hear about red vines and seldom hear with about american licorice company. it's only in the last few years that we're really starting to expand, focusing on expanding to the eastern market, east of the rocky mountains and outside of this western region where we have a really strong hold on the market. >> reporter: been here since 1920 in san francisco. the past few decades here and in

union city where they're working round the clock as they normally do but especially putting out more product, like i said, because, i don't know, it looks like around 20 something days you'll have kids knocking on your door demanding this stuff. among other products as well. >> but i do like red vines. thanks a lot, bob, appreciate it. >> reporter: they're very good. >> yummy. >> plus bob looks great in the hat. >> always. hope he brings it back. hey, let's check in with mike and see if he has any updates for us. >> we do. we'll take you back to the peninsula where we are looking over here, debris still after the earlier accidents but the roadway is cleared so the sig alert i talked about earlier has cleared from woodside road. but in that backup there was another accident at university avenue. watch for that. stay to your left as you're passing by the exits heading to the dumbarton bridge sor stay clear on el camino and jump on just north of woodside road if you can. southbound 280 just reports of a

car that hit and killed a deer. that deer reportedly still in lanes of traffic on the southbound side approaching edgewood. the south bay, we do have no major issues other than one accident northbound 101 right around highway 87 in the same area between 680 and 87. we typically see slowing there. a live look at the bay bridge shows you the backup forming after the metering lights just turned on. golden gate bridge s has yh ourt coming up after this quick break. u

welcome back. we have 40s and 50s outside right now. not all that windy but here's the reason why you'll want to have an umbrella on stand by. we're tracking some scattered showers for the most part in the north bay as cool air aloft moves through the bay area in the afternoon. may even see an isolated thundershower. as we switch to the radar view, you can see a line of intense thunderstorms now changing over to showers moving from the

northeast to the southwest. counterclockwise rotation around an area of low pressure to our south. around the south bay and peninsula, a few sprinkles here and there but down the central coast you can see more moisture starting to approach from the south. so as that area of low pressure to our south and east today, most of the intense weather will be across central california but the bay area is seeing some showers today. as that tracks out tomorrow, we'll see clearing skies, breezy and cool tomorrow. then turning warmer as we head toward the weekend so there's a quick look at your temperatures today. 73 in san jose, 65 in san francisco, close to 70 in san rafael. in the north bay we'll see highs in the low 70s. seven-day forecast clears us out tomorrow and then we're talking 80s in time for the weekend. the time now 6:27. a call for action. san bruno is scrambling to figure out how to foofor. mlasta ex r last month's deadly ioexosn.pl

>> reporter: be careful around the crosswalks.

it's international walk to school day. we'll talk about the benefits coming up. a live look at the markets open this morning. investors hoping for another rally like the one yesterday where the dow gained almost 200 points. and the lights are home and everybody is home at the bay bridge toll plaza. the golden gate bridge shows you traffic coming in from the north bay. rob is letting me know we might see windshield wipers affecting your drive as well. we're oftwatching all these factors. from nbc bay area, reporting what matters to you, this is "today in the bay." and good morning, everybody. thanks for joining us. i'm brent cannon. >> and i'm laura garcia-cannon. let's get a quick check of the forecast with rob. >> as mike pointed out, north of the golden gate we've been seeing scattered showers rolling through from east to west around an area of low pressure. a few hit and miss sprinkles and the south bay and there you see the moisture across south coastal areas. jacket for the morning, maybe an

umbrella at times in the afternoon. 73 for san jose, 65 san francisco and 69 around oakland. brent? seven members of an east bay football team are suspended from school after an alleged hazing incident. police say it happened last week at alhambra high school in martinez. a freshman football player was allegedly tied up and punched repeated lie by his own teammates. the boy was not injured but school officials want to make it clear this is not tolerated. the attack was captured on cell phone video. six students were kicked off the football team and the district wants to find and expel the alleged ring leader. almost one month after the deadly pg&e pipeline explosion in san bruno, emotions are still running high. as dem mission crews cleared the debris the cost is being tallied at cash-strapped city hall. the mayor said pg&e had paid the city $3 million. state funding and tax breaks for

people living in san bruno are now in the works, but fema denied a request for a major disaster declaration delivering an economic and emotional blow. >> i've been to the funerals for seven of the eight victims, and there's four very serious people still burned in the hospital. i'm going, you know, it will be sufficient to meet your requirements. it bothers me. >> the governor's office is appealing fema's denial and the city is looking for revenue to pay for the response. neighbors are now turning to the courts. a second person has filed a lawsuit against pg&e seeking damages. don't be surprised if you see a lot more kids walking to school as you head out this morning. that's because today is international walk to school day. today in the bay's christie smith is live now in oakland with what's behind the popular event. >> reporter: good morning to you. you know this is a chance for kids and parents to connect, get out of the car, get away from the rush and get a little bit of exercise. most school districts in the bay

area are participating today, doing things like handing out bike lights and stickers for kids who walk or ride to school safely. now, oftentimes schools just don't have physical education like they did back in the day so this really goes hand in hand with getting exercise. and with first lady michelle obama's anti-obesity campaign. we checked in at one of oakland's top-performing schools, montclair elementary, where the principal does manage to have a p.e. teacher. there are about 450 kids at this school and they use something called a walking school bus system where kids meet with designated parents and head on town together and they are certainly jazzed about walk and roll to school. >> oh, my goodness yes. they are looking forward to it, yes. we had a whole assembly on friday and a wonderful assembly about the benefits of walking and how to do it safely and how to ride your bike safely and how to take your skateboard safely and all the ways that you can do that. >> reporter: this seems to be getting more and more popular.

last year thousands of schools across the country participated. the campaign actually runs through the entire month of october and has been in effect internationally since 1997. again, as you're heading out this morning, watch out for those little people in the crosswalk. reporting live in oakland, christie smith, "today in the bay." the giants back on the field today getting ready for the atlanta braves. the playoff roster a little clearer this morning. top-paid starter barry zito not in the giants' rotation. san fran says it's going with tim lincecum, matt cane and jonathan sanchez instead. the manager hasn't ruled out the potential of zito starting game four, but many experts say it is not likely. make sure you see all of the playoff games, mark your calendars. tomorrow and friday's games start at 6:37 p.m. in san francisco. on sunday the best of five series moves to atlanta. game time 1:37 p.m.

if game four is needed, it will happen on monday at 5:37 p.m. and game five will be back in san francisco next wednesday at 6:37 p.m. and tonight, our news team is getting into the game with a special all giants playoff preview show from at&t park hosted by our very own raj mathai. it's from 6:30 to 7:00 right here on nbc bay area. right now it's 6:35. we want to check in with mike inouye. he has a look at the 101 through the east bay. >> actually we're going to look at the east bay, interstate 80 approaching the east shore freeway and the berkeley curve. the metering lights are on. also the giants are playing and fleet week activities starting tomorrow so a lot more folks will be heading into the city. the bay bridge toll plaza, let's get a live look and show you the backup going past west grand avenue. the metering lights turned on just about 6:20. about your typical time we expect through that area. let's get another look at the maps. very heavy off the bridge all

the way out to harbor street so keep that in mind. watch that slowing as it continues to build and send it back to the desk. >> thanks, mike. we want to check in with rob coming up in just a little bit. 6:36 right now. in the meantime a new nobel prize winner and he once taught in california. we'll tell you who it is next. and getting a good deal on a vacation. one insider tells us how to get the best hotel rates. and neiman marcus once again releases its must have christmas gifts. we'll take a look at some of the high-end stuff coming up in just a little bit. and some of our weather this morning, you'll want a jacket this morning and maybe an umbrella as you take a live look at san jose. no showers right now. that could change later on. thanks for joining us, "today in the bay." you're watching "today in the bay" with laura f garcia-cannon, bre cannon, scott mcgrew and mike inouye.

meet the real meg whitman: serving on the board of goldman sachs, whitman was caught reaping millions from insider stock deals. after ebay shareholders sued and a judge cited the obvious conflict of interest she was forced to pay the money back. what kind of person would be involved in deals a fellow republican congressman called corrupt? and in her last year at ebay, whitman paid herself $120 million right before the company laid off 10% of it's workers.

we're choosing a governor, shouldn't character matter?

welcome back. we're keeping an eye on the radar this morning for the far end of the north bay. pretty active, some scattered showers, a line that used to be a pretty intense line of thundershowers weakening, moving off to the south and west. hit and miss sprinkles around the central bay and more moisture to the south. notice how it's cartwheeling around the bay area. area of low pressure will stay just to its south, spin a few showers and cool temperatures. we're talking highs only in the low 70s around san jose, 60s near san francisco, 70 in

oakland and tomorrow skies start to clear. breezy and cool for your thursday. as we move through the weekend, temperatures rebound back to the mid and upper 80s by sunday. back to you. new this morning, a ucla grad is one of three people who will receive the nobel prize in chemistry. dr. richard heck did his undergraduate and graduate work at ucla. he invented a process for complex molecules for medicines and electronics. the three men will split the $1.5 million prize. want to get away? getting a good deal on a hotel room is easier than you might think. we have uncovered a little secret that the hotel industry doesn't want you to know about. there are secret unpublished rates that you can get online. so they are published. competition is fierce, though. hotels don't want to enter an online price war with other hotels like they would on travel sites like speedia, priceline and hotwire and hotels don't want to pay those websites a commission. so to get the best deals, you

have to do it the old-fashioned way by picking up the telephone. >> it's smart for them to call the hotel and say, look, i'll pay you 90 bucks, will you take it. and i would. and you can get rates 10 to 25% less than those listed online. >> when you call, ask for the general manager. they want their rooms filled just as much as you want to bargain, and so essentially that's what happens with those websites. they make that same phone call and do the negotiating so they're kind of a middle person. you can just do it yourself. calling all cars, a massive manhunt for a smartphone thief. why police had such a huge response. we'll tell you about it in a live report. with halloween just around the corner, it's no wonder they're so busy here in union city. i'm bob redell. coming up, we'll show you what it takes to get red vines licorice out in time for trick-or-treaters. that's coming up in a live report. tonight at 11:00, computer hackers capable of taking down

entire corporate networks. instead of committing cyber crimes, these hackers are actually helping you. go inside the world of the white hatt at :0:0011 after "law & order l.a." can't be governed anymore. whita

i say baloney. this state belongs to all of us. we just have to decide we want to change. i know government isn't a business and it shouldn't be, but the same values of accountability and focus that make california businesses among the best in the world could do a lot to fix sacramento. i'm on a mission to create more jobs, stop wasteful spending, and improve our schools. let's get to work. ♪

good morning, everybody. the time is 6:44. a live look outside from the south bay. sun starting to come up. we do have a few clouds hanging around. a little cooler start to the day. rob will sort out your forecast coming up in a little bit. it is 6:44 right now. today the u.s. supreme court hears what may be its biggest test ever of the first amendment. will the court uphold the right to free speech, no matter how unpopular it is. at th

today in the bay's tracie potts is live in washington, d.c. on how a high profile case on protests at military funerals could play out. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, everyone. this is a case that really pits two very important individual rights, constitutional rights against each other. the right to free speech guaranteed in the first amendment and the right to practice religion in this country. this is a case involving the westboro baptist church from topeka, kansas. you may have heard of them. they have protested some 200 military funerals around the country in what some call very explicit protests. they believe god is punishing the country for embracing homosexuality and they go around protesting at military funerals. in this case at this funeral in 2006, the father of the marine sued and won almost $11 million but that was overturned and now the case is before the supreme court. the question seems to be not only whether his right to free speech trumps the family's right to have a peaceful funeral, but

also whether the fact that this is a private person as opposed to a public person makes a difference. the court will hear arguments today and render its decision at some point later, possibly as late as the end of the term next june. laura. >> thank you for the update. right now we want to check in with mike, taking a look at your morning commute, as we come up on 6:50. >> this is the south bay, northbound 17 as you're coming up towards the northern edge of campbell. reports of an accident right near hamilton. sounds like things are off to the side of the road and just property damage. keep that in mind. a lot of big stores there as well as folks heading to the surface streets. highway 85 was showing some slowing just north of highway 17 but things are starting to clear up and move smoothly. slowdown northbound 87, pretty typical speeds in the 50s as you're heading into downtown off the capital expressway. northbound 101, a good stretch of slowing. for the past two days we've seen good slowing through that

stretch of 101 so that's the pattern for this week. we'll take you up to a live look at sunol. 680 moves nicely northbound with headlights out of the south bay. the southbound side you might find an issue right around castlewood an accident reported a few minutes ago. more folks coming out of livermore. a live look at the sensors and the maps showing you livermore westbound, 23 minutes showing up. averaging we low 40 miles an hour the entire area. of course the bay bridge toll plaza, the backup is back toward the foot of the maze. rob, also i should tell people to check their windshield wipers. they may need them in spots today, right? >> in the north bay free car washes in some spots. it's chilly, mid-40s, but you'll want to keep the umbrella on stand by. you can see one batch of moisture rotating around the north bay, another line to the south of monterey. 101 generally north of santa rosa out towards ukiah, some showers going from east to west. around the central bay area, a

few hit an miss showers here and there, mainly line sprinkles around the bay area right now. you notice the activity here. we have this cartwheel effect around this area of low pressure where the moisture is rotating around counterclockwise over the bay area at times. a combination of sun, a chance of scattered showers, maybe even some thunder. but tomorrow skies clear as the system takes that area of low pressure, scoops it up and takes it away from the bay area tomorrow. that's great news not only for the giants game tomorrow evening but with fleet week in town we want to get our clear skies back. today keep the umbrella on stand by, some sun flaglasses and the jacket. temperatures as warm as the mid-70s around fairfield, 73 san jose. low 60s san francisco. close to 70 in oakland with scattered showers in the forecast today. this time tomorrow morning i think the showers will start to shut down, clearing for thursday and then look at that for the weekend, mid-80s coming back just in time for saturday and sunday. back to you. >> looks nice, thanks. an east bay company is

churning out vintage candy and getting ready for halloween. >> bob redell is live at the red vine licorice factory in union city. what are you doing out there, eating all their profits? >> reporter: yeah, i'm tempted not to grab any of these off the conveyor belt here, it's very tempting, especially with the aroma out here. good morning to you guys. red vines, they have been making them here in the bay area for 90 years. they're ramping up for another halloween season. if you're curious how do they make red vines, it's a mixture of wheat, sugar, water, red coloring and of course their secret red flavor sauce which gives it their distinct taste. they have it in a kettle where they brew it around 180 degrees for a good hour and a half or so and then take it out in 200 pound globs of red goop that sit in these vats in a massive room upstairs for 24 hours. interestingly, red vine licorice needs to actually cure. they say there's no preservatives in there so it does cure. after it's done curing about a

day, they shove it through a hole in the floor upstairs. it comes down that big steel pipe and is pumped into this device right here, which i would have to imagine, michael kelly, with the american licorice company, has to be one of the most important pieces of equipment on the floor. >> this is the extruder and this is what gives red vines the classic twist shape. this is a piece of machinery that's been involved in the manufacturing process for decades. it hasn't changed much over the years. the one thing that has changed is how we market these products, making use of social media. as a matter of fact go to redvines.com right now you'll see a conversation on twitter and facebook where we're giving away a trip around the world. as it extrudes, you can see it's twisting. >> reporter: in here it's cut. and i never knew this, but it looks like there's some sort of liquid that maybe gives it some extra moisture as it's coming out. over here this gentleman is putting them on the rack. they'll go into an oven down here, brent and laura, where

they get warmed up again. on the other end is the actual packaging conveyor belt where they're put into the packages and eventually sent out to, you know, stores and whatnot. as i said, right now they're a little extra busy because they're trying to get extra product out there for halloween for the trick-or-treaters. 24/7 operation here at union city. who would have thought that this was all right here in our backyard. it started in 1920 in san francisco before moving here. brent and laura. >> a classic candy. pretty cool. >> thanks for the behind-the-scenes tour. thanks, bob. 6:51 right now. new this morning, the man who allegedly ran down a treatment police officer is in custody. our affiliate in los angeles says u.s. marshals have confirmed alexander diaz was arrested just after midnight in southern california. he was booked in an east l.a. county jail. investigators say diaz hit motorcycle officer patrick brower while driving a stolen

van on monday morning. no word on when he will be extradited. i want to check in with stock mcgrew. the markets are open and he's got a look at what's going on in the financial world. >> a quiet start after a phenomenal day yesterday. the dow industrials are up 2 points, the nasdaq up 8. general electric, the parent company of this television station, has just bought dresser energy, they're a gas and energy company, for $3 billion. facebook, brent and laura, this afternoon or kind of at noon will invite press over to their palo alto headquarters to talk about new stuff. who knows what. as i said earlier, it's the applefication. they used to e-mail and now -- >> do they have good food when they do that? >> reporter: they do have good food, that is the secret. 6:52 right now. dozens of officers on the ground, a police helicopter in the air, all searching for a suspect on the run. palo alto police are now taking

a little heat for what some say was an overwhelming response to a petty crime. today in the bay's kris sanchez is live at palo alto police headquarters. kris, it all stems from a stolen cell phone? >> reporter: it does, a stolen cell phone and a stolen bike but police here in palo alto are not apologizing because they say it doesn't have anything to do with what was stolen but rather how the suspect behaved when police tried to contact him. here is what happened yesterday around 6:00 in the evening. the suspect steals a kid's bike from a pickup bike, then heads over to east meadow drive and asks to borrow a cell phone from a passer by. that phone's owner hands it over, tries to be a good person, the suspect takes off with it. a patrol officer spots the suspect but when she tries to talk to the guy, he takes off running. the officer chases and calls for backup. palo alto police set up a perimeter with the help of officers from surrounding agencies. a helicopter already on patrol

flew over the scene. this might sound like an overreaction to some folks, but at that point the officers did not know who they were dealing with, only how that person reacted. >> in this situation when the person took off and fled from the police and starred jumping fences in a residential community, obviously we become concerned for people's welfare and safety in the community. we don't know if this person is simply scared because they stole a bicycle or stole a cell phone. we're thinking could there be something more to this. could this person be a parolee at large, so forth and so on. >> reporter: now this morning we still don't know why that suspect ran, because he did manage to get away. whether or not you agree with the the response, you should know this was no additional cost to the taxpayer here in palo alto or the surrounding agencies because all of the officers who responded were already on the clock. in palo alto, kris sanchez, nbc bay area news. >> thanks, kris. another check of the morning commute with mike. >> we'll take you out to 680 southbound. i told you about an accident i had just heard more details.

southbound 680 right at highway 84 east. the folks head toward pleasanton or coming out of pleasanton and lever more. that's a big problem approaching that express lane. you see the slowdown heading down toward the scene and that's in addition to the typical slowing we see heading over towards the express lane. all these folks may be coming down 84 or off of the dublin interchange so this could present a big problem for the sunol grade. i will follow this very carefully. we see traffic build past oakland coliseum. pretty standard volume for the northbound and southbound sides of 880 and the nimitz freeway, moving pretty smoothly down towards the san mateo bridge. look at that, the haze sticking around so you might need windshield wipers from time to time. >> it's starting to feel like fall around here. >> it is, it's chilly. 40s and 50s outside. a little bit of sun and you'll want the umbrella the atimes today. you can see the north bay. a few hit and miss sprinkles around the bay area. you saw the san mateo bridge

looked like they had a light showerbout a half hour ago. not so much in san jose right now. as you widen out, you can see two areas of moisture, one to the south. pretty intense showers from san luis obispo. we'll spin moisture around so a few showers this morning. the cool air aloft and the heating of the day, this could be an environment where we may see an isolated thundershower or two, especially south of gilroy and some of the coastal mountains today. so just a weird day of weather around the bay area. a little bit of everything. tomorrow we clear out just in time for the playoff game and fleet week. we warm up for the weekend. look at that, 80s coming back to the bay area just in time for the weekend. >> that's the way we like it. thanks, rob. well, it's that time of the year when the neiman marcus company shows brent all. things that he should buy. >> take a look at what they have got. a life-sized gingerbread house, completely edible. they have also got the limited edition camaro convertible. this would be $75,000, brent.

not edible. there's a diamond and gold charm bracelet, a charming price tag there, brent. a quarter million dollars. i say you buy her the gingerbread house because it comes to your house in a crate and the company says it can last you about nine months as far as the overall consumption of the house. >> and the kids are already eating us out of house and home, so perfect. >> you can put them in the house and eat their way out. >> and got milk. very cool. thanks, scott. >> quite christmas planning already. hard to believe it's around the corner. >> thanks for joining us this morning. the "today" show is coming up next. >> have a great day. [ male announcer ] build your better breakfast at subway with the $2.50 breakfast combo. get a 16oz. cup of piping-hot seattle's best coffee and a savory new sunrise subway melt built fresh to your order for just $2.50. subway. build your better breakfast.

♪ the turn will make you think. ♪ make you re-examine your approach. change your line. innovate. and create one of the world's fastest-reacting suspensions, reading the road 1,000 times per second. it's the turn that leads you somewhere new. introducing the new 2011 cts-v coupe. from cadillac. the new standard of the world. of washington partisanship this is barbara boxer's california. trillions in reckless, wasteful spending. destroying small business. killing jobs. crushing hopes. we can change this, but only if we change the people we send to washington. california cannot afford boxer for six more long years. i'm carly fiorina and i approved this message.

come on... isn't it time an auto insurer gave it to you straight? that's why you should talk to state farm. but not yet. first, talk to any one of the 40 million drivers who already have state farm. 40 million. yeah, that's more than geico and progressive combined. by a lot. 40 million drivers. more savings.