. thanks for joining us. >> i'm brent cannon. it is straight up 5:00 and an official holiday and the start of the playoffs for the giants and that means the pressure is on everybody, including the weather guy. rob has a look at the forecast. >> it's hot here in the weather center. we are going to come through with a fantastic forecast. the giants and fleet week. a few cloud and it is showers passed the bay area. the temperatures are not that bad. close to 70 in oakland. 73 in san jose. not getting in the way of the morning commute. >> that's right, rob. a lot of folks will be heading towards the ballpark. we will focus southbound. that's causing a little slowing. the off-ramp there is where the construction will remain in

place. here into men low park if all things go as scheduled. this is scheduled to pick up at 5:00 a.m. through the san mateo hills. no issues right now. >> new this morning, the war in afghanistan enters the tenth year and no one seems to know when or how it will end. afghan leaders continue to back the u.s.-led coalition. this morning's "washington post" are positioning themselves for when international forces leave. this is a crucial juncture for president obama's revived war strategy. extra american troops are on the ground and public support for the war slipped in the u.s. and western europe. an afghan analyst said the consensus is the u.s. and allies failed to defeat the taliban. >> the overall assessment shows that nato was unable to defeat the taliban. not only the taliban was not

broken, but taliban was able to expand and intensified attacks in the government. >> more than 1200 american service men and women have died in the war in afghanistan. >> emergency response is the theme of this year's fleet week. the event is showing off the military effort to go green. today in the bay live on the uss macon island, the world's most environmentally friendly military vessel. good morning, bob. >> you might wonder how a ship this size, a couple hundred feet shorter would have anything in common with a toyota prius. because it's a hybrid. it goes under electric power 12 or 13 knots. anything faster is going to go to a standard gas turbine. this is the navy's first hybrid

ship. it's one of the most environmentally friendly in the fleet. he is not a sailor. he's a marine that brings the question, you are part of the navy. >> the department of the navy as you know. we are the marines that board and we will be deploying part of the expeditionary unit. for people who are not familiar, this is an assault ship. if you wanted to put other landing craft on here, these pieces of equipment here, you lower the back of the ship into the water. the back gate drops down and the water comes in and we have landing craft loaded with our vehicles. it comes out and when we hit the beaches run. >> how far would this be from the shore? >> over the horizon operation. that's 26 to 30 miles out and a nice long ship ride in.

>> how does she sail? >> i believe it runs on battery power and less than 13 knots. more than that they turn on the engines and it's out. >> thanks, captain. what's interesting is if they were going to do a assault, they send the marines out to shore and the ship stands offshore waiting for casualties. they have a medical facility upstairs. we will show you that coming up in about 45 minutes. >> thank you very much, bob. >> fleet week means extra perks for military families. the san francisco zoo will celebrate by offering free admission to members of armed forces and their families by tuesday. they open at 10:00 this morning. >> state lawmakers set to vota a new budget today. they say it does not have any

new taxes or fees and it does include $7.5 billion in spending cuts and the schools and child care, welfare and other social programs. it includes a large dose of creative accounting and assumed $5.3 billion in help from the federal government. changes could be in store for the golden gate fory and leaders will hold a hearing on proposals to change the frequent rider discount fares and weekday schedules. that hearing is at the golden gate bridge administration building. the state has a new supply of lethal injection drug. it was cancelled in part because there was a shortage of the drug. the state attorney general's office told a u.s. district court judge it has 12 grams of sodium pent ol with a 2014 expiration date. they called off the execution of albert greenwood brown after two legal set backs and the

expiration of the supply of drugs. previously lawyers said they did not expect a new shipment until next year. the former operator faces jail time or taxes. he is accused of collecting tacks from gas, but not turning the money over to the city. the 47-year-old pleaded no contest and will be sentenced december 16th. south san francisco leaders say when he surrendered in december, he owed the city more than $340,000. >> people from across the country with brain cancer are in san francisco to continue to protest what they say are the dangers of cell phone use. they will hold a protest from 11:00 to 1:00. they were at the common wealth club meeting where the author of the new book disconnect, folks. it shows cell phone are not as safe as many think. they have been shown to damage dna, reduce sperm count and increase the risk of cancer.

>> the president of the board of supervisors wants to silence the bull horns used on open air tour buses. he wants to respect the loudspeakers that tour quits use to tell passengers about the attracts. gavin newsom kind of disagrees. he said tourism is important and he wants to encourage it and not discourage it. >> get ready for a new look at the dmv. driver's licenses are getting a high tech makeover. the space age features of the new car includes laser etching to verify the names and birthdays by touch. they can be seen only under ultraviolet light. drivers under 21 have their information in a vertical instead of a horizontal one. pamany bay area wineries these days have a special year at uc davis. this year's crush is under way at the new $15 million winery.

the 34,000 square foot facility features a brewery and food processing plant and was built entirely with funds from private donors and state-of-the-art features. for more information, go to uc davis's department of vit ri culture. >> you better have a glass of wine. four days after purchasing the tickets to the playoffs, the giants are getting ready to play ball. 6:37 is about the time the first pitch, barring last minute changes. it will be thrown out by tim lincecum. the two-time cy young winner's first ever game. he has yet to beat the braves, but lincecum could take notes from roy halladay. he pitched a no hitner his playoff debut. the 33-year-old retired the

rest, helping the phillies win and takes a one-game. he tiched a perfect game. as for the yankees, they won and was tied up at 4:00 in the seventh before mark teixeira hit. game two is tonight. a 1-0 lead in the playoffs. 10 strike outs in seven innings. the rangers won, 5-1. game two is tonight. >> time is 5:09 and time to check the morning commute. >> we will take you to the far north bay because of a sigalert that happened up there. a smaller accident with a big rig there and also a fuel leak for southbound 101. keep that in mind if you are expecting anyone to come south through healdsberg.

no slowing, but we will see other slowing. highway 37 with an skpx clearing for the roadway and your travel through vallejo is moving smoothly. traffic is just starting to build. >> we are checking out the forecast as well with rob. i don't know where we stand. we are up and down. >> yesterday was a weird day. a cool start and thunderstorms around san jose and in the evening, much more calm. you need the jacket outside, but pleasant as we watch the giants later on. game time temperatures close to the low 60s dropping through the 50s as we go through the evening hours. we have it down over the next few days. fleet week and blue angels in town. warping into the weekend. 70s around san francisco and the fog stays back along the coast for the high show as we like to say. the high altitude flying should be looking at that. temperatures around the bay area are mild. 73 in san jose and 65 around san francisco. no worries about needing an

umbrella. unless you are heading to the sierra, the seven-day forecast seven-day forecast will show the warm up and mid- to upper 80s inland. coming up on 5:11. a first grade art project. >> a look at the giants players who started in san jose and the families that welcome them with open arms.

new this morning, thenumber of people killed doubled overnight. 48 people are dead as rain continues to lash the region. another 23 people are missing. despite the damage villagers started to return home in areas where the water is receding. new video this morning of hail in the desert. arizona experiencing really crazy weather, at least two tornados were spotted over the northern part of the state. then look at the hail. homes were damaged by the strong winds and some of that golf ball-sized hail. at least 15 homes you can't even

live in. the weather will be better for the rest of the week. check out this amazing new video caused by a landslide in chine amp the falling mountain side caused nearby homes to shake. they shifted down to the bottom of the hill. they are just collapsing. three homes destroyed and 26 in danger. no one died. the same area was hit in early august. that killed more than 1400 people and more than 15,000 people lost their homes. a children's art project is causing controversy and even making national headlines. dallas smith is a first grader in kansas and came home wearing a white cone-shaped mask he made in art class. his parents were outraged when they saw it. >> it appears to look like a ku klux klan hat which is a heck of a thing to put on a 6-year-old boy. out raged. anger, outrage. my wife was fearful for my son.

just because of the symbolism that goes along with it. >> it's a creative shape that the kids can take a lot of different directions. i had the kids make knights and princesses and a crown and a cowboy hat. you can take it all different directions. >> the art teacher said he has done that project for 30 years and this is the first complaint. the school district apologized, but the smiths say the administrate ors need sensitivity training and they plan to move to a new school district. i don't know what the other kids are doing, but my first thing when i saw that was like the parents. >> absolutely. you want to know what the kids are doing. kind of weird. >> california, we are talking about the budget and scott said there is something in it for everyone not to like. >> after 99 days, a record and

perhaps the headline here is we should have a budget. there will be more cuts to schools and child care. welfare cut as well. lawmakers have to close an $18 million to $19 billion deficit. no new taxes or fees, but the math calls for a $5.3 billion in federal help. that actually has not come yet. that comes to a vote today. the state has to pass a balanced budget law. it has to balance when it's actually passed. it doesn't have to balance in the end. this is a bit like saying you have the funds for kids to go to college because you don't have the money now, but you get a raise by the time they graduate high school and everything will be fine. that's the legal way of doing it. you can make assumptions in the budget like we are going to have fewer prisoners in prison. if that's the case -- >> the long range plan. >> for you are wrong, it doesn't

count. it counts now. not later. >> right. >> we'll see. >> take a long time. >> here's better news. imagine having a big league ball player spend a few months in your house. that's what some do every season. a lot of families do. they share their homes with members of pro baseball players. the san jose giants until the players get called to the big leagues. buster posey and pablo sandoval are in the playoffs now, but not to go ago they were living in san jose. what's it like for the host families now? damian trujillo takes a look. >> to neighbors, they are known as the musk graves, but to several of the guys wearing the uniform today, they were mama and papa. >> they are right here in your heart and they never leave. it's like your own kids. they may move away, but they are your kids. >> ed and donna are the host family. for years, they opened their doors to several giants, mostly

latinos. the panda first pretended not to speak english. >> they can speak english. they have to because i don't speak spanish. they teach me a few words that i can't say right now. >> with minor leaguers making little money, they rely on host families to put them up for the season. they are getting their reward watching their kids fight for a world title. >> it's wonderful. i love it. >> there was a time when critics blasted them for having a poor system. not when at least 10 player who is should be on the playoffs roster hone their skills right here at san jose muni. >> to the degree that the organization succeeds, we do take the credit for that. we are proud of it and proud to be one of the stops they have on their journey. >> no one is prouder than the

musk grave, but what parent wouldn't be? today in the bay. >> i think we need to do our part and have young baseball players live with us. it would be nice. >> maybe aspiring cheerleaders too? whatever we can do. >> speaking of cars, let's see how it's rolling. >> you have a whole team at your house. from our desk we clinched the national league championships. great news for you folks and good news westbound 580. the roadway is cleared after the earlier report. a 14-minute drive. the mall not yet open. don't head there and south of the mall, we had slowing on the sunol grade. you get a look at the traffic heading south and overheards fremont, there is a light volume of traffic. steady flow with the headlights into fremont and no major issues

into pleasant ton and dublin. we look at the upper deck, an easy drive. no metering lights. the giants game heading into the city and we'll let you know about the forecast. >> not only that, but the situation pays a oomhe giants l rkeoom or we think it's him. we will explain coming up. [ male announcer ] carly fiorina. as ceo, she laid off 30,000 workers and shipped jobs to china.

china. india. russia. poland. i know precisely why those jobs go. [ male announcer ] because fiorina shipped them there. to shanghai instead of san jose. bangalore instead of burbank. proudly stamping her products "made in china." 30,000 workers gone while fiorina took $100 million for herself. carly fiorina. outsourcing jobs. out for herself. [ barbara boxer ] i'm barbara boxer, and i approved this message.

>> welcome back for a light start. the showers moved off to the east, but mainly clear skies and look at that. three of a kind. 57 as well and a little bit of a sea breeze. that should pick up and we have a nice high definition television set you can see as the giants are flying over san francisco. let's show you the weather. patches of low clouds and mostly mild. turning breezy. as we head towards the weekend, a warming trend with 80s inland perhaps as early as saturday afternoon. what's left of the weather system heading off towards the sierra getting an early start to the weekend, but snow above 8,000 feet. for the bay area, we will go from mild temperatures to highs in the 70s and warm temperatures into the mid 80s. towards sunday and monday,

inland temperatures climbing thanks to high pressure and the low clouds at bay for fleet week that goes on through the weekend. the bottom line is we will be warming up. not all that bad. mostly sunny skies near 73 degrees. low 60s on the coast and 65 for san francisco. game time should be in the low 80s. to the east bay, mid 70s by fairfield and pittsburgh. low to mid 70s and tomorrow expect upper 70s and for the weekend, mid- to upper 80s inland. gorgeous weather arriving for the weekend. >> looks nice. hard to believe the holiday season is creeping up on us and toy maker are gating ready. vendors are in texas taking a look at what's hot this holiday season. at the fall toy preview at the dallas market center, bat man is popular. there lots of bat-shaped walkie talkies.

hello kitty always making a come back. the hard shell case for the i pad. do kids have those? technology is certainly king. >> it's huge. children see their parents and their older siblings using technology. they want the real thing and not just the toy version. >> they want what their parents don't even have. products like this crayola megapixel camera. a 5.1 megapixel camera that is pretty durable. >> a situation in the giants clubhouse. this is giants lead off man. he has a striking resemblance to a wash board -- no, a jersey shore character. torres on the left and the situation on the right. it's an excuse to show guys with six-pack abs. either way you can see whether or not you think there is a

resemblance there. >> wearing a suit right now. >> they have the six-pack and got the keg. >> the man connected to an east bay killing spree goes to court today. >> we could have a new state budget as early as today, but some lawmakers are playing a number shell game. scott will break that down. >> an oversight in you somethinu do at least once a month could benefit. r are

fuzzy math. the state has a way to close a budget hole without raising

taxes and not cutting 19 billion in services. how are they doing it? time to dust off that orange and black playoff fever is here. we are talking headlines. we will talk with giants fans straight ahead on today in the bay. >> per good morning. i'm brent cannon. >> i'm laura garcia cannon. the top story is the forecast. a lot riding on the forecast. fleet week and we will deliver a nice forecast. a light jacket will be fine. no need for the umbrella. highs into the mid 70s and san jose 73. mid 60s today around san francisco. you mentioned it. it will be a party in the city. the giants fans getting ready

for game and expect to hear some noise. christie smith is live in san francisco. we are excited giants fans are already up. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. the fans know it will be a big challenge, but they don't care. they are ready for the system. we wanted to say she had great timing. you just got season tick this is year for this season. you will be there tonight. we haven't been in the playoffs. >> we are going to beat them tonight. >> some are saying atlanta has a better hitting game. what do you think it will take? >> a little bit of bidding. we acquired it and freddie sanchez and all of them are

really good. the whole team is good. >> i wanted to point this out. the more i look at it, the more i love this outfit. let's start with the shoes. that's up to the finger nail and the bracelets and the shirt and the head bands and the earrings. you are all jazzed for this and playing the game tonight. >> i will be at the game tonight. >> we are crossing our fingers and you will be excited. thanks very much. we will be checking in with you guys in 30 minutes or so. that's the latest reporting live in san francisco. christie smith today in the bay. you found the ultimate fan. there a variety of ways you can be in the middle of that fanfare. there still tickets available, but you have to shell out money

there. the cheapest ticket we found, $85. that doesn't even get you a seat. you have to stand the whole game. the cheapest seat is $89.99. they are not nosebleed section. most expensive seat. the field tickets at $1250 a pop. the giants say the only tickets are girl an teed to be real if you see them listed on craigslist or find a guy trying to sell them on the streets, it's buyer beware. you are out of luck if you buy a counterfeit ticket. you can watch it from the out field fence. you are going to have a lot of company out there. a lot won't get you into the game. if you make an online reservation, they will rent you a float for $44. the kayak will thereby so you can float it out and maybe get

lucky to catch a ball. you will certainly hear the roar of a crowd and maybe pick up a souvenir. follow your pregame coverage tonight at 5:00 and 6:00. the news team will be out at at&t park getting the latest on the players and get a feeling from 6:00 to 6:30. all giants, all the time. logon to nbcbayarea.com. a lot there to keep you in the game. >> one of the people linked in a bizarre web of murders will be back in court. charles ridden house is in solano county jail on bail. police found the bodies of his wife and her friend and dozens of jars of chemicals that could have made explosives at his home. they call him a person of interest in the womens' death. they are trying to figure out if he is connected to a killing

spree. the chp shot him to death when he threatened officers with a knife following a high speed chase. two men in are custody for spying on people as they used atms, but police say there plenty more like them. the men are facing charge of spying on customers and then stealing cash when victims accidentally leave their cards behind. the pair got away with $400 in cash. if you forget to take your card, some allow you to push it right back in and have access to the accounts. it has happened 23 times this summer in north berkeley and near the cal campus. >> when i got my account a month ago, i forgot it. i walked away and i was like oh. i didn't get it out of the atm machine. >> as you can see, it happens and police ask that you be careful. >> 99 days, $19 billion in the hole. we may get a budget deal later today. scott, this budget is full of

assumptions. >> lots of assumptions and no new mone. through a series of money moving action, the government figured out how to ditch the deficit. one of them includes getting a penning reform plan for state workers. that move forward overnight. the state's largest union has tentatively agreed to roll back formulas for new employees and increased contributions to pension benefits. they cut back on personal leave that reduces pay about 5%. the new contract is retro active. other money shuffling includes cutting $200 million from universities with the hope in the feds will make up the money. 820 million from medical care and 200 million saved by assuming the prison population will go down, not up. $60 million cut from daycare and medi-cal patients. these are a smattering of the proposed cuts. the key is that state law said

sacramento has to pass a budget. whether or not the budget comes out later is not part of that requirement. we should get a vote later today. we should get a vote. >> thank you very much, scott. it's 5:37. students, workers and teachers are picketing this morning. prot test is in response to a continued lack of funding for the public education system. it comes in the wake of tuition hikes and furloughs for the facility. it starts at 6:00 a.m. on telegraph avenue and there will be a walk out at 11:30 this morning at a noon rally. participants are expected to hold a sit in until 5:00 p.m. 5:30 at highway.

the yellow car approaching just off of the slowing. watch for that and stay over to the left. that might be the reason for the slowing all over towards the road. the pick up and a half hour to get that clear. that's to be expected. westbound 580 slowing the usual slowing with a 15-minute drive, but a little more slowing past highway 84. we will follow that blip carefully. we will look at a live shot through oakland and the volume of traffic with northbound and southbound. we will look towards the san mateo bridge on to and off of the bridge. a glow of the light, but what does it look like? >> no worries about any showers this morning, but you want a jacket and temperatures dropped off into the upper 40s. mainly 50s and not much wind. there is good news and not much

fog either. the weather headlines and a mild day today. the trend is to friday and the weekend. things warm up and we are talking 80s inland towards saturday and sunday. showers around lake tahoe and snow, but the sierra will clear out. a nice weekend in the high country as the system heads off to the east. 73 around san jose and 65 in san francisco. close to 70 in oakland. turning breezy on the coast and highs across the north bay valleys in the low to mid 70s and the seven-day forecast looks outstanding as we head through the weekend with fleet week in town. into the mid- to upper 80s. >> getting hot again. >> 5:39. the other justin bieber. the man with the same name not thrilled about having teen girls yelling his name. >> sarah palin will be in town in just over a week. a couple of key republicans may

not join the party. . live in san francisco, the uss macon island and we will you why the medical facilities are the most superior at sea. [ female announcer ] this is a strawberry pop tart. but this is warm, fresh-baked strawberry toaster strudel. [ music ]

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with new mom programs, lysol healthy habits initiatives in schools and disaster relief efforts. when you use lysol at home, you'll know you're a part of something bigger. for healthy tips and more, visit lysol.com/missionforhealth. good morning to you. welcome to thursday morning. taking a live look outside. here's expected highs across the bay area. pleasanton perfect. 75 degrees and santa clara 72 degrees for the expected high. expect a warm up on the weekendment we will check in with rob in a bit. >> a kern county soldier is the latest casualty in the war. more than 1200 american service men and women died in the fight that enters its tenth year

today. tracy pots is live where the talk is now how to get out. tracie? >> good morning, everyone. that talk includes 119 californian who is died in afghanistan. 700 have been wounded woochly enter the tenth year of this war, there increasing questions about the amount of violence in afghanistan and whether we are fighting the correct enemy there. a lot of critics saying instead of insurgens, we should be going after al qaeda in a stronger way than we are. the big concern right now is supplies. getting supplies to u.s. troops. because u.s. troops accidentally shot two pakistani soldiers, pakistan shut down the supply routes and several military convoys, several nato convoys have been attacked trying to get supplies into afghanistan.

president obama said there is no need at this point to change the war strategy. live on capitol hill today in the bay. >> nine full years have taken their toll. in addition to the troops who died, 800 nato troops died in afghanistan. six of those in the bay area according to the records. the fighting seems to be getting worse. in the first week of october, sfrean nato forces have been killed which is the most in recent days and they had one yesterday. we are getting more information as well about that kern county soldier. brian pedro died saturday while fighting. he was assigned to the second engineer battalion out of white sands, new mexico. he was 27 years old. time is 5:44. you are watching today in the bay. >> we will get to traffic and weather, but first, it's a busy weekend in the bay area. coming up, giants play game one

of the playoffs and san francisco kicks off the biggest fleet week in two decades. blue angels make practice runs at 1:00 and the fleet week seen this year on emergency response and the military is showing off one of the biggest vessels. bob redell is live on the uss macon island to show us more. good morning. >> pier 32. a couple hundred shorter in length than a u.s. aircraft carrier. you can cure tomorrow. we will have more on that later. this is an assault ship. they are having an attachment of marines they would send off and in this ship it would be offshore waiting for not having to deal with them. hence the reason why it's got superior medical facility which we are in. the icu and how many people could you handle here? >> an emergency team here with

47 patients and up to 300 patients if necessary. >> compared to a hospital ship, how does it compare? >> the largest navy ship afloat, but as far as the war ships are concerned, this is the largest in the u.s. fleet. >> people might be surprised to know it was this type of ship, not the macon island, but this class of ship. what was the there? >> this was ideal for relief with the lift capabilities. we can show up quickly and be able to deliver a lot of supplies. in fact, the last time i read, this was the class of ship that visits vietnam as a humanitarian mission since the war. >> thank you very much. thanks for being up bright and early. in about a half hour, we will tell you why the navy is feeling this is one of the most environmentally friendly ships. it's because it's a hybrid. meantime reporting live on the

uss macon island in san francisco, bob redell today in the bay. >> i keep getting worried he is going to hit his head. we will check back with you. good morning. 5:47 before 6:00. we are seeing the volume, but no problems. the approach to the bay bridge is moving nicely. a warning that you will see a lot more traffic because of the two events. the giants game tonight and tomorrow and fleet week. if you are heading into the city, we suggest bart. bart is running longer trains starting tonight for thursday and friday because of the giants game. if you are a fan, prepare for that. if not, you have to walk to the stadium. the caltrain system looking at no delays reported. you can take caltrain up towards the exit and that gets you to the ballpark. no major problems for this or

other mass transit systems. if you take mass transit, that's a concern. the forecast is of special concern. how is it looking? >> outstanding here. the home of the giants and not the home of the braves. not for the next couple of days. 63 around game time. you may see patchy low clouds. it will be a bit cool. typical as it tries to pick back up. take the nice giants sweatshirt. temperatures will be warmer. as we head towards the weekend, that's one of the welcomes we will have is fleet week. heading into the weekend, today is 65 degrees around san francisco. as we go for the weekend, san francisco is going to get the 70s. gorgeous weather in time for the weekend. 73 degrees and san francisco in the peninsula, mid- to upper 60s and not a chilly day. pleasant if you are walking

around. the late day sea breeze into the east bay. the seven-day forecast today kind of mild and tomorrow a bit warmer. we see the 80s coming back and maybe even close to 90 by sunday afternoon. back to you. >> are now to decision 2010. sarah palin is chasing a couple of key republican candidates away from a big california gop fund-raiser this month. carly fiorina and meg whitman are supposed to be at a fund-raiser in anaheim on october 16th. now they are saying they can't make it because they have other events scheduled. several experts say they really are not going because they are backing out due to palin. her numbers are less than stellar in california according to a field poll. only about 33% of californians like palin. 58% are not happy with her. when you break it down by party, only 9% of democrats like her. california candidates want to be

associated with her and they are backing out. >> with election day three weeks away, they will join a conference call with reporters to urge voters to pass proposition 22. if prop 22 passes t stops california from taking or borrowing local tax dollars meant for services such as fixing bad roads. the mayors say it's those tax dollars that would stay. chuck reid will be one of the people on the conference call. >> the debate will be moderated by tom brocaw. the debate starts at 6:30. we will have preand post analysis on air. logon to nbcbayarea.com. >> in the race for oakland, one candidate spent almost $600,000 in the quest to be the next mayor. his opponents are upset saying

he passed the spending limit. kaplan 20 about $125,000. they both requested stricter regulation of candidate spending limits. you are going to hear from all of the mayoral candidates tonight in a forum at 6:00 in the oakland city hall. election day is 26 days away and you can always logon to nbcbayarea.com and search prop zero for all of your election day information. >> the wall of toxic sludge we told you about continues to move through europe. we have more from the newsroom. >> the latest we have from the news wires is this sludge has reached the danube, the second largest river in europe. this happened yesterday from a metals plant where the stuff turns into aluminum got loose from a vez voyeur and started flowing into the danube. we think it's going to cross

into croatia, serbia and romania and a half dozen nations could be affected. they are pouring vinegar into the river in an attempt to try to negate this. this stuff is a base. it's the opposite of acid and they are trying to balance it out with huge quantities of vinegar. it's one of the best ideas they can come up with. the latest is it has reached the danube which is what they didn't want to happen. >> it's amazing to see as well. thank you very much. it is 5:52 right now. there may be soon more restrictionso what people can and cannot use food stamps o. at least in new york city. new york city mayor michael bloomberg plans to ask the government to add sugary soft drinks to the list of banned food stamp purchases. it also includes alcohol and cigarettes. it's an effort to fight obesity. 1.7 million food stamp recipients spent as much as $135

million on soda and juices with added sugar. big news for fans of iphone. it could be branching out and coming to another phone network soon. published reports say apple plans on making a version of the iphone similar to the iphone 4 that will be compatible with verizon wireless. that would allow them to sell the iphone early next year. right now the iphone 4 is only available in the united states from at&t. verizon is wrapping up plans to upgrade their network. they will have 4 g coverage in california and the forth east as well as chicago, seattle, and dallas. they plan to cover a third of the u.s. population with 4 g by the end of the year while targeting business user that need mobile connections. michelle obama is apparently the most powerful woman in america. >> it shouldn't surprise you that the first lady would top a

list, but the way the rest of the list plays out might. pop singer lady gaga comes in at number seven that. puts her above nancy pelosi, homeland security secretary janet that pal tanno, sarah palin and sonia sotomayor and elena kagan. we want to check in with rob, one of the most influential guys. >> maybe today at the giants game. the weather will look a lot more. showers and thundershowers in the north bay. 57 in san jose. that's a popular number we are seeing in san jose, oakland and san francisco. a bit of a sea breeze this morning. some of the weather headlines show today will be the start of a warming trend. mild out there this afternoon, but for the weekend we are talking temperatures getting back into the mid 80s as we head towards tuesday. what's left of the showers is a chance of snow. 8,000 feet today with the system

heading off to the east. behind it you may see the wind pick up. mostly 70s inland and the east bay looking at temperatures in the mid- to upper 70s and beginning tomorrow and getting close to 80 inland. mid 80s for most spots and by sunday and may get close to 90 by the time we wrap up the weekend. it looks like we head into the early half of next week. temperatures warming up more. today mostly sun to start off and we will have temperatures in the 70s for most of the bay area. san jose 75 and morgan hill should be thunderstorm free. highs in the low 70s around healdsberg and pet lum a. 75 in sacramento and scattered showers and a chance of thunder around truckee. the weekend returning warmer. mid- to upper 80s and the coast looking good too. pushing 70 degrees by sunday. back to you. this is as good as it gets. helen hunt will take the stage at a fund-raiser on the

peninsula. it raises awareness about working class homelessness in the bay area. the academy award winner is teaming up in an effort to help families and individuals find a permanent home. the event kicks off at 7:30 at the hyatt regency in burlingame. >> being justin bieber can be a difficult thing. meet 35-year-old justin bieber. he's an average guy living in a quiet southside jacksonville neighborhood. he said his phone rings constantly. he changed his number and put his wife's name on it, but teens put it on a fan website. he gets fan mail and calls from singers and what makes him angry is after six months, he got kicked off of facebook for having a fake name. >> nor warning. no e-mail. their policy is ban first, ask questions never.

>> another social network as well, ping kicked him off their site, but that got resolved. no luck with facebook. >> he might as well go with it. >> are not everyone loves santa claus. who wants to ban old saint nick. >> a budget could be approved by the end of the day. details in a report through sacramento. >> giants fever is sweeping the bay area. from some who can't wait for the playoff game.

>> not more beans. just a creative way to cap them. time to break out the orange and black and time to fear the beer. the playoff fever is here. talking with giants fans straight ahead.