how many bay area students drop out of school. we will have a live report coming up. >> reporter: i'm bob redell. this morning we'll tell you what's happening at the nfl could affect the way your child plays football here at the local level. that story coming up in a live report. and the leaks keep on coming. find out what's in the latest secret documents released by wikileaks. good morning, everybody. a live look outside at the bay bridge. it is wednesday, december 8th, on "today in the bay." from nbc bay area, reporting what matters to you, this is "today in the bay." thanks for joining us. the time now is straight up 6:00. i'm brent cannon. >> and i'm scott mcgrew in for laura. we want to get right to rob with the forecast and a good-looking weekend ahead. >> the weekend will look pretty outstanding but 53 in san francisco. east wind at 14 so it's a little gusty across the span of the bay bridge right now. notice our temperatures throughout the day not changing

a whole lot from where we're starting. we'll see in the 50s all day hau long with rain at times. same story right now on your 680 commute through dublin this morning. back to you. >> all right. let's go over to mike on the commute. >> yeah, rob has been talking about rain through the north bay and definitely it was an issue. we had some spinouts and trees down in sonoma county and solano county. but right here at the bay bridge, dimly lit this morning. some of those streetlights look like they were not turned on overnight. maybe some of this construction playing a factor in that as well. so wet roads and dimmer conditions at the toll plaza will play appear issue, but so far a pleasant driving approaching the toll plaza. 880 through oakland we have a 15-minute drive. the southbound side shows a lot of light glowing. southbound passing past the coliseum at the limit as well down to the san mateo bridge and the 92 interchange. those headlights show the glow and the mist on the roadways.

so the rain has extended down towards the san mateo bridge. the south bay has no delays. the east bay building up. watch it, folks, it's slick out there. distressing news about the dropout rate at bay area schools this morning. more and more students never complete high school and don't get their diploma. the results are especially disturbing in the oakland school district. "today in the bay's" christie smith is live with the results of that new report. >> reporter: good morning to you. you know, it's really sad. you kind of wonder where these kids are going during the day. in one year, the year of this study, 2008-2009, 1400 oakland high school students just stopped coming to class, quit the system altogether. now, the district know that say they need to do something and they need to do it fast to try and get those numbers back down. in fact staff members are designing a new plan to review the academic preparation of all ninth graders to try to steer

them into career academics or internships. it seems some students aren't even realizing until pretty late in the game, like 11th grade, that they're not on track to graduate. this is based on new state numbers, again from '08 and '09. oakland's numbers have gone up from 28 to 30% all the way to 40%. but there may be some discrepancies in the numbers here perhaps due to a new software database system they're using. for instance, dublin schools are showing a 99.9% dropout rate, which is mathematically impossible. so here's how the numbers stack up. in alameda county, oakland schools have the highest dropout rate, again, 40%. then berkeley at nearly 27% and emeryville at 25%. in contra costa county, pittsburg was on top, nearly 31% dropout rate. antioch at 26% and mt. diablo at

22%, which is actually down just slightly from the year before. that's the latest from here. reporting live in oakland, christie smith, "today in the bay." in case you missed some of those numbers, we will read them to you again for pbay area schools. santa clara county's dropout rate increased to nearly one in six students. san mateo county's dropout rate increased 3.4%, but as she mentioned, better news for the san francisco unified school district. it saw a nearly 50% decrease in the dropout rate. the study was using numbers from the 2008-2009 school year. this morning a 51-year-old east bay man is behind bars on charges of dragging a homeless woman to her death with his truck. police say the man from brentwood argued with the woman inside his pickup truck in antioch in a parking lot early in the morning on tuesday. when she got out of the truck, he allegedly accelerated, hit

her, then dragged her 50 to 75 feet and drove away from the scene. he was arrested hours later. the chronicle reports he spent more than a month in jail after being convicted in a domestic battery case back in 1994. the man accused of using a stun gun on a deputy and forcing a preschool into a lockdown could face charges today in santa cruz county. investigator want to charge 24-year-old maurice ainsworth with attempted murder, escaping from custody, armed robbery and battery. he was in custody and getting treatment at a lockdown medical facility when police say he escaped. grabbed the deputy's stun gun and used it on her. they say he then grabbed the deputy's gun and fled to a nearby preschool where he allegedly pointed the gun at a teacher and demanded her car keys. the operator of a taxicab driving school will be in court today to face broib recharges. investigators say william hancock was the middle man in a plot by a san francisco police

officer to accept bribes from taxi drivers. drivers allegedly got a passing grade on a portion of the driving permit test if they paid hancock bribe money which he would then give to the police officer. he's currently in custody with a bail of $40,000. hard hits and head trauma on the agenda at today's nfl player safety meeting in new york city. "today in the bay's" bob redell is live in san jose with a look at how the nfl's decision can impact youth football programs here in the bay area. bob? >> reporter: good morning to you, scott. you know this is a special concern for the nfl and should be for players who play in any football game at any level. concern in the nfl that there are one to two concussions every game. so today and tomorrow in new york city the nfl's brain, head and neck medical committee will be meeting to look at ways to cut down on concussions and traumatic brain injuries on the field. this comes after a youth sports summit in d.c. yesterday during which the national athletic trainers association agreed to

team up with the nfl to push for laws that will better protect young athletes, those who play on high school football fields like this one here in san jose. the idea is for each state to have a law similar to the one that's already enacted in washington state. that one requires young athletes and parents to sign forms acknowledging the risk of a concussion. players with a concussion must be removed immediately from a game and they can't return until they have been cleared by a doctor. now, this issue has been receiving a lot of attention lately. just a few days ago, heath miller of the pittsburgh steelers suffered a concussion after a vicious hit during a game. this past sunday, vikings qb brett favre was hit from behind and taken out of the game for what actually turned out to be a shoulder injury. and you might recall locally during last year's big bone game, san jose high's matt blay was almost killed by a very brutal hit on the field that slammed his head onto the ground. it took three major surgeries, but he is reportedly doing much better now. reporting live here in san jose,

bob redell, "today in the bay." oracle's ceo larry ellison could control prime waterfront real estate in san francisco by the end of next week but he does have to pass a couple of hurdles first. the city's budget and finance committee will discuss plans to bring the americas cup sailing race to san francisco. if the committee approves the contract, the full board will then meet early next week for a final vote. ellison would get to choose where the next cup is going to be held because his team won the last race. he wants development rights and a 75-year lease of waterfront real estate rent-free. he also wants rights to the pier and parking lots near at&t park. well, a steak sandwich sounds pretty good. today's morton's steak house in san jose is giving a free meal to those who donate non-perishable food. curbside service is available. pull up and they'll take your donation and pack up your treat. it benefits the second harvest

food bank in san jose. you can pick up lunch between 11:00 a.m. this morning and 2:00 p.m. this afternoon. a good deal for a good cause. not exactly a free lunch. no such thing as a free lunch. but a can of beans. >> and filet mignon. >> good trade. >> we might check the curbside drive-up on that with mike. >> likely to be very crowded coming around the bend headed toward morton's. right now we'll show you a good backup coming through antioch. this is what we typically see about this time of day, guys. look at that, speeds below 20 miles an hour from 8th street all the way. then heavier slowing where you see the 48, dipping likely because the rain came through the area so that may be additional slowing for highway 4. 580 holding up pretty steady. a little slower than we typically expect for a wednesday, but again, that might be because of the rain coming through. a little slowing around the dublin interchange, again to be expected there. and the castro valley y, 580 and

238 moving pretty nicely. the earlier closure we had for foothill boulevard has cleared. an earlier fire in hayward. dimly lit at the toll plaza, a 19-minute drive from the carquinez bridge. and a live look at the golden gate bridge shows the rain that you've been talking about all the way down into the city. that affect your drive as well. >> and we're seeing probably the heaviest rain north of the golden gate bridge as you head up toward marin county. santa clara valley seeing temperatures in the low 50s, but oakland the rain has moved in. 52, southeast wind at 7 miles an hour. north of the golden gate bridge, stinson beach heading into tiburon and san rafael, moderate rain coming down. in san francisco and oakland, you can see areas of rain. more heavy rain approaching the golden gate bridge in the next five minutes. rain is heading off into the east bay hills right now. san jose missing out for the moment but the rain will continue to head to the south as we head into the afternoon.

so the combination of clouds and raindrops today will keep our temperatures down. mostly mid to upper 50s today. breezy at times. rain off and on. today clearly the wettest day of the next seven because we actually have good news for the weekend. showers shut down for friday morning and then we'll warm up and dry out saturday through tuesday of next week. back to you. >> thank you, rob. 6:11 right now. today is the 30th anniversary of the murder of john lennon. a bay area man conducted the singer's final interview. we'll find out his story next. and a cyber battle breaking out between wikileaks and credit card companies. find out which site you might have trouble logging on to today. and the future of the south bay neighborhoods are still up in the air this morning. see what happens now before anyone decides whether this little piece will become part of san jose or campbell. and a live look outside from the south bay. san jose this morning. we are dry for now, but as rob points out, it could change. stay tuned all morning. reporting what matters to

you, you're watching "today in the bay" with laura garcia-cannon, brent cannon, business and technology with scott mcgrew, and traffic with mike inouye.

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good morning, everybody. another live shot clear across the bay area. you see the bay bridge in the distance there. it is relatively clear, but we also see a little shaking to the camera, which usually means the wind is picking up and we know that rain is on the way, but rob will have his full forecast coming up shortly. the fate of a south bay neighborhood still in limbo this morning. the city of san jose has voted to annex an area but the city will delay the implementation until campbell can make a counteroffer. the area is unincorporated.

many people who live there would rather become part of the city of campbell. now, san jose has the right to annex the area. many people have been fighting the change. >> to ask just as all the others have that you please consider reopening the discussions with campbell and see what we can come up with and act like representatives. please act like elected representatives. >> a few seconds ago you saw on the screen that san jose had annexed campbell but that should be cambria. they are asking them to discuss all options and it has been put on hold for six months. >> talk about the 11th hour of the 11th hour. i think annexing this property but directing staff not to register it for a six-month period is a good compromise at this point. >> if san jose does annex the neighborhood, it would streamline municipal services in the area and bring in more than

300 families into the city of san jose. in his last days as mayor of san francisco, gavin newsom is signing a deal for a daily homeless care center in the tenderloin district. the program will offer a wide range of services for homeless people, including housing, legal help, dental work and medical care. the lieutenant governor-elect signed a $400,000 contract allowing the program to operate 40 hours a week. more than 6500 homeless people live in san francisco. vice president joe biden will try to convince democrats to support the president's tax deal today. some democrats say the president shouldn't have cut a deal with republicans to extend those tax cuts. they're circulating a letter on capitol hill urging party members not to vote for it. the president insists tax breaks for the rich was the only way that republicans would agree to tax breaks for the middle class. >> you don't have the backbone to let the tax cuts expire today, you certainly are not

going to do it in the middle of a presidential election. >> business leaders from the chamber of commerce and business round table, a group of the nation's top ceos, are praising the package. new this morning, wikileaks published a new set of cables overnight. the whistle blowing website at posted a new message. it says the leaks will continue despite the arrest of the site's founder, julian assange. he is in jail without bond on rape charges. wikileaks is under pressure on several fronts. visa and mastercard stopped processing donations to the website. hackers have now retaliated against mastercard. its website is down right now because of cyber attacks on what is being called operation pay back. now, the latest cables leaked by wikileaks talk about what went on between the united kingdom and libya concerning the release of the lock eerlockerbie bomber.

now, as you know, british officials released a libyan man from prison in august of 2009 on compassionate grounds because he was dying of prostate cancer. well, the bomber is still alive and well to this day. 270 people died in the bombing in 1988. south korea media reports that north korea fired an artillery round today. it looks to be part of a drill. the shell landed in the yellow sea. meanwhile, the u.s. joint -- chairman admiral mike mullen met with south korean officials today and criticized china for the way it handled tensions between north korea and south korea. admiral mullen says china should use the influence it has over north korea to ease tensions. family and friends are paying tribute to elizabeth edwards today, who lost her long battle with breast cancer. in a statement, the family says we have lost the comfort of elizabeth's presence, but she remains the heart of this

family. she told supporters through facebook that there was nothing else to do to fight the cancer. her passing is eevoking strong memories. >> president obama called her a tenacious advocate for fixing the health care system and fighting poverty. no funeral arrangements have been announced but in lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the wade edwards foundation. 30 years ago legendary beatle john lennon was assassinated in new york city. there will be a somber remembrance this morning. nbc bay area's marc barger talked with a san francisco radio journalist who was one of the last people to speak with lennon before he died. >> reporter: the news was stunning. >> he was shot and killed late looft night outside his apartment building on new york city's west side. >> reporter: the world was

shocked. dave sholin was devastated. >> you feel every possible emotion, anger, sadness, they all come hitting you at one time. >> reporter: that's because sholin had interviewed him three hours that very same day. >> i would like to be a happy, contented person. i don't want to have to sell my soul again, as it were, to have a hit record. >> he made it very clear that for him he was really beginning a whole new stage of his life and felt great about it. >> reporter: sholin had flown with three colleagues from san francisco to new york to interview lennon about his life, his career and his new album, "double fantasy." >> he did everything he could do in a matter of minutes to make us feel comfortable and at ease. >> reporter: in fact when sholin's group left for the airport that afternoon, they wound up giving a ride to lennon and his wife, yoko ono. >> we dropped him at his studio, raced to jfk, landed in san francisco and turned the radio on and heard this news.

>> reporter: and for sholin, the passage of time has made that day no less bittersweet. >> i try to focus in on how great that afternoon was. at the same time, you're -- you know, you know the end of the story. ♪ >> reporter: an ending that came too soon. marc barger, nbc news. >> sholin's interview with lennon will air as a special this week on many radio network stations across the country. you can hear it in the bay area on 103.7, the band, tonight at 9:00. "rolling stone" magazine has an interview of its own. it will release it this week. the issue hits newsstands friday, featuring an interview with lennon three days before his death. brief excerpts were released in 1980, but this is the first time the entire interview will be published. >> kind of an interesting story. >> it is. hard to believe 30 years. >> it goes by fast. the time is 6:21. we do want to check in with

mike. there are some new problems to keep up to date on in the commute. >> a number of issues on the bay bridge. we do have an accident reported upper deck at treasure island that's blocking your slow lane, but a caltrans crew has arrived on scene and are trying to get that quickly off of the roadway. i'll let you know if there are any delays because anything big could affect the already-building traffic heading toward the toll plaza. they turned the metering lights on because of that incident on the bridge. the maze approaching looking all right. just your typical slowing for highway 24. a live look at the toll plaza shows two issues. the buildup at the incline as you're coming up toward the area and at the bottom of your screen some dimly lit conditions approaching the toll plaza it is. as folks stack up, that will be less of a factor but the wet roadways an issue as you cross over from oakland into san francisco. oakland will see heavier traffic southbound as some folks will head toward that san mateo bridge and that could present more traffic. a steady glow and the glowing

lights because of rain kicking up on to your windshields is causing issues with visibility. overall 880 close to the limit. 50s and 60s for the most part. we're looking at travel times for the rest of the east bay looking at highway 24 off of the walnut creek interchange close to the limit as well as 680 down through walnut creek and towards the dublin interchange. 580 shows a slowing pattern coming out of the altamont pass. wet roads, the rain has kicked but presenting slick conditions for drivers this morning. so watch it as you get out to the roadways. a man accused of assaulting a toddler in a bay area store goes to court today. we'll see what he's expected to do. and a live look outside. we've been talking about the golden gate bridge. one of the many places we are beginning to see the rain coming down. roads really getting wet out there. we'll keep you fic hed atngr co. [ female announcer ] safeway talks holiday baking.

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bridge where the rain is flying. let's show you some of the other temperatures around the bay area right now. in san jose, 52 degrees. light rain moving in. southeast winds at 9 miles per hour. there you see oakland, 52 degrees, southeast wind at 7 with moderate rain going right through downtown. and the golden gate bridge, southeast winds at 9. the rain cowhich is flying justo the north of the golden gate bridge, pretty good downpour. same story up towards the richmond-san rafael bridge. moderate rain heading down 580 and 680. there you see san jose just now starting to see some of that rain spill on in. it's going to be a soggy day keeping temperatures down into the mid-50s and the rain will linger for your evening drive as well. highs today in the mid-50s. tomorrow a little less in the way of rain. some scattered showers. friday most of those showers head off to the north bay and the weekend ahead, we'll dry out and warm up some as we approach

sunday and monday. brent. thanks, rob. check out this guy braving some windy conditions trying to get a flag down from a hotel near orlando. you can kind of see the grass in the background. he's kind of on a spire about 300 feet off the ground. the hotel found out the flag was tangled when they tried to lower it to half staff for pearl harbor day so they sent this contractor up to try to untangle it. he got up there but found out the flag was actually torn so it couldn't be salvaged and he let it go and brought it back down to the ground. governor-elect jerry brown is going to get started on a new state budget today. we'll find out what he's going to be doing coming up. and a san francisco santa has a new job. we are going to see where he will be spreading holiday cheer now. and a new report about high school dropout rates has alarming news for bay area schools. we'll have a live report on that coming up next. and a live look outside this morning. the east bay, 880, the volume of traffic is really picking up, as

is the rainfall. we'll be checking your forecast and how that could affect your morning commute coming up in a few more minutes. lots of lotions promised healing. this one actually does it. [ female announcer ] gold bond ultimate healing lotion. nothing feels like it, smells like it, heals like it. gold bond. this stuff really works. and succulent lobster dinner at sizzler for just $15.99. sizzler. thinking fresh. everyday.

>> reporter: new high school dropout numbers are out this morning and it's not looking good for oakland. i'm christie smith. i'll tell you what the numbers are and what the district plans to do about it, coming up in a live report. president obama wants fellow democrats to extend tax cuts. see who will be on capitol hill to make the case coming up in a live report. the south bay this morning, the rain begins to work its way from north to south. today, wednesday, december 8th, on "today in the bay." from nbc bay area, reporting what matters to you, this is "today in the bay." good morning, everybody. thanks for joining us. i'm brent cannon. laura is off today on assignment. scott mcgrew will join me in a few minutes. he's got a little radio to do

right now. so for now we want to check in with rob. he's got our hour-by-hour forecast which is important, because it's going to change hour by hour today. >> the rain really flying across parts of the bay area. at leaf the temperatures not much change here. rain at times all the way into the evening. speaking of the rain right now it is very likely slowing down your commute right around san francisco. downpours coming down, just changing into orange and yellow. that is likely causing some ponding on the roadways this morning, mike. >> there you go, rob. that's going to complicate things across the upper deck of the bay bridge because we had a six-car accident that was reported just around treasure island. now, from what i hear, caltrans arrived on scene and the chp just told us that they do believe all lanes are now clear but this is a big issue crossing over into san francisco. a live look shows you that traffic is moving steadily from treasure island over into the city and that's a good sign.

we don't ever like to see this stopping up. and the bay bridge toll plaza is stopped up because once an accident happens, at the slow the metering lights and the backup forms even more quickly all the way past west grand avenue and undoubtedly more traffic heading down towards the san mateo bridge. as folks hear about anything on the bay bridge, they shift their focus south as well. there will be a little different flow of traffic sending more folks onto 880. alarming new numbers are out concerning the dropout rate at bay area schools. oakland public schools have the worst dropout rates and need help fast. four out of every ten students drop out in oakland. christie smith is live in oakland. some very disturbing new numbers out. >> reporter: yeah, that's right, brent. it's kind of startling. in one year, the year of this study, 1400 high school students in oakland just quit. they stopped coming to school altogether. now, as you said, the district, they know they have got to do

something and they have got to do it fast to get these numbers back down. they're talking about a new plan to try and intervene much earlier when the student is in ninth grade. take a close look at their academic achievements, their interests and get them in internships and things that will keep them on track. it turns out that a lot of students don't even realize that they're not on track to graduate until pretty late in the game in the 11th grade. so at this point the report we can tell you is by the state department of education. and it looks at the 2008-2009 school years. so accuracy may be an issue here because of a new data reporting system. there are some bright spots, though, for schools in the bay area, including san ramon, piedmont and pleasanton. they all have quite low dropout rates, but back to alameda county, again, oakland comes out on the bottom with a 40% dropout rate followed by berkeley and

emeryville. over in contra costa county, pittsburg is on the bottom along with antioch and mt. diablo. all of those three on the bottom. mt. diablo is showing some signs of improvement, getting kids to stay in school. reporting live in oakland, christie smith, "today in the bay." testimony continues in the case of an alleged gang rape outside of a richmond homecoming dance. detectives say more than a dozen people stood around and watched at seven suspects raped, beat and robbed a 16-year-old girl in october of 2009. defense attorneys say that the girl willingly became drunk and even flirted with the suspects. the judge is set to decide if there's enough evidence for the men to stand trial. the man accused of sexually assaulting a toddler at a bay area discount store will ask a judge to free him on bail today. police say convicted sex offender eugene ramos grabbed a 2-year-old girl in a union city

dollar tree store and sexually assaulted her as her grand mother was shopping in the next aisle over. police arrested ramos after a group of shoppers and store employees pinned him down and held him until police could arrive. ramos faces rape, kidnapping and lewd acts with a child. holiday shoppers in the east bay will be reminded of the unsolved murder of a community leader. people will gather at the hillsdale shopping center in san mateo at 5:40 tonight at the exact place and time that substance abuse counselor david lewis was shot and killed six months ago. police say that lewis was killed by a single gunshot in june in a parking garage at nordstrom's reportedly after some kind of confrontation with the shooter. governor-elect jerry brown will not take office until next month and already he is working on the state's budget deficit. he'll meet today with financial leaders in sacramento to talk about the big challenges that lie ahead. brown takes office january 3rd and has to offer his first

budget just a week later. the legislative analyst's office says california faces an estimated $19.3 billion gap for the 2011-2012 fiscal year. now, a new report out today says the tough times are far from over. the national conference of state legislatures says many state governments will have to continue cutting back on services for at least three more years. in california, the projected shortfall is expected to balloon to $25.4 billion. that's the 19 billion i just mentioned. there's a $6 billion shortfall that still exists this year. last year's shortage forced the state to issue ious, furlough workers and temporarily increase taxes. we have a follow-up to a story we told you about yesterday. the macy's santa who was fired for what some say was an inappropriate comment has a new job offer. lefty o'doul' has offered john toomey twice the pay to help

with their toy drive this year. toomey was fired last week after a couple of shoppers complained about one of his jokes. toomey explains what happened. >> santa is so happy and jolly all the time? no, santa. i said, because he knows where all the naughty girls and boys live. >> toomey says he only tells that joke to adults and nobody has ever complained in the past 20 years. >> someone in a chronicle comment mentioned if you're sitting on santa's lap as an adult -- >> right. >> i mean, come on. >> some people say does it mean that you can't even tell a joke without having a big controversy. >> yeah, don't try. good morning, everyone. 6:37. the giant recovering from some surgery this morning. we'll see if it can affect the title defense coming up next year. and the nfl will talk about helmet safety today and we'll find out how that decision could trickle all the way down to your kids. and a bay area doctor jumps

into action to help a woman. see what he was wearing at this race that may have left her all shook up. what's stirring up your morning commute right now, we've got rain flying all around the bay area, especially right there across the bay bridge this morning. how long you're going to need the umbrella coming up in your forecast next, "today in the bay." reporting what matters to you, you're watching "today in the bay" with laura garcia-cannon, brent cannon, business and technology with scott mcgrew, and traffic with mike inouye. join the jaguar platinum celebration ! come celebrate exciting cars that are stunning to look at, exhilarating to drive and worry free to own. celebrate this holiday season with the gift of platinum. jaguar platinum coverage:

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speaking of our sierra update this morning, snow will eventually fly close to 6,000 to 7,000 feet as the moisture heads towards mammoth mountain and lake tahoe. but notice san francisco to oakland seeing pretty good rain coming down. moderate rain from dublin down towards sunol. within the next half hour we will see rain spilling south with all the clouds and raindrops today, our temperatures will only be in the mid-50s. umbrella weather really all day long. even into your evening commute we're expecting rain off and on at times. things will start to dry out a little bit tomorrow. still scattered showers off and on into friday. for the weekend we'll clear out. some morning fog but warmer afternoons heading into sunday and monday. a bay area doctor didn't let

his elvis costume get in the way of helping a woman in las vegas. dr. claudio palma rushed to the aid of the woman after she collapsed and hit her head inside a restaurant on saturday. now, the head injury did not prevent her from noticing that the san francisco-based doctor was still dressed as elvis having just finished the rock and roll half marathon. dr. palma performed cpr. >> my wife at that point yelled, "my husband's a doctor." i looked to the back of the restaurant and there's a lady laying on the ground. >> you know, at first i don't think she knew what to make out of me. i don't think anybody else knew at the same time. i was some stranger dressed up as elvis doing cpr. >> now, the good doctor's eventful weekend also included getting hitched to his now wife during the two and a half mile marathon. so ran a marathon, got married, saved a woman's life. >> all while wearing an elvis

suit. >> don't step on his blue suede shoes. the time now 6:42. a bay area hiker is telling her tale of survival. find out how she survived being lost in the santa cruz mountains. >> and you're looking at a live picture. that's beautiful as the sun comes up. it's 6:42. great forecast ahead after a little bit of rain. we'll checck ith ie.

good morning to you. 6:45. absolutely beautiful sunrise. we'll check in with mike and rob in just a minute. a bay area hiker is safe this morning and telling her story after being lost for ten days in the santa cruz mountains.

58-year-old debra collins left her house on thanksgiving day for a hike in nearby fall creek state park, but she fell into a ditch and was badly injured. she did have some extra clothing, some gloves and plastic bags which she used to collect spring water to drink. she survived frigid temperatures but finally heard her neighbor's voice calling out. >> he looked up, you know, and said "are you okay, do you need help?" i said, "yes, i need help." he said, "are you debra collins?" and i said "yes!" i was so shocked that he knew my name. it was like "i'm found!" . >> collins plans to return to her outdoor activities and doing things like hiking, but this time she plans to leave a detailed note about exactly where she'll be going. >> this neighbor just sort of randomly decided -- but said i'm going to go find her. took his little boy with him and did. >> amazing story. we've been talking about how cold it was, especially in the higher elevations.

it must have been brutal out there. 6:46, we want to check the morning commute with mike. >> it never hurts to look where you can when you can. the chopper flew through the area of the upper deck accident but they had to clear out because of the rain but all lanes they confirmed were clear. all the activity after that six-car accident off on the shoulder. that's a distraction as you're coming off of the bay bridge toll plaza with the metering lights on and a slow drive up the incline. we have a 28-minute drive off of the carquinez bridge. further up on the east shore a stall in lanes around central affecting you coming off the richmond-san rafael bridge. coming over from the north bay as well out of san rafael. the metering lights are on and a new accident also reported for highway 24 approaching 580. so a lot of activity heading towards the maze. decide that 580 and 880 heading smoothly. we'll get you a live look. more folks might shift heading south, 880 a nice easy drive heading toward the san mateo

bridge but look at that rain affecting you heading towards the peninsula. and we're looking at 680 where we had earlier rain in the lights. that's not there but water is kicking up off the roads so still wet conditions. >> i've been watching that rain moving north to south throughout the morning. you can see here going back to the top of the hour you can see the rain line heading into the santa clara valley. look at that, pretty good downpours about five minutes away crossing from the coast over the peninsula and likely hitting the golden gate bridge very shortly. right now around dublin, 580/680 interchange, you're seeing some pretty good downpours but just now starting to see lighter rain in san jose. more substantial rain obviously flying a little bit further to the north up towards fremont. eventually that rain line will continue to progress to the south. with all the clouds and raindrops, our temperatures will feel pretty cool. highs mainly in the 50s and we could see as much as 2 inches of rain up around the north bay hillto hilltops. about a half inch of rain else wrchlt if you're heading to the coast, we could see surf up to

15 feet tomorrow. pretty big waves coming on in. but the rain should slowly start to taper off thursday and friday. today around the bay area we'll see highs in the upper 50s around san jose, mid-50s across the north bay. today by far the wettest day we'll see over the next seven days. showers will start to shut down thursday into friday. and the weekend, pretty good timing, warmer weather with patchy morning fog into early next week. scott. vice president joe biden heads to capitol hill today trying to convince reluctant democrats to support the president's tax deal. "today in the bay's brian mooar is live in washington. brian, some lawmakers want to change it, but that would put us right back to square one. >> reporter: yeah, scott, there's not really much of a choice here. it is interesting to note that it is the vice president, not the president who's coming here to the hill to soothe those ruffled feathers. right frankly a lot of democrats believe president obama just caved on this one. the president came out swinging yesterday. he says he didn't cave in. this was a compromise.

the kind of compromise this country was founded on. let's be honest here, the president really didn't have any alternative. democrats did not have the f numbers to pass a middle class only extension of the bush era tax cuts. republicans got what they wanted, an across-the-board extension for two years. now the democrats will have to be happy enough with getting an extension of jobless benefits for just a couple of months at the very least. they want to see some other tweaks, like a change in the estate tax, also known as the death tax, but quite frankly, the obama administration does not have a lot of negotiating room here. the president says that he will continue to fight on things that matter, but on this one, scott, he just didn't have the numbers to move it ahead. >> all right, brian moore reporting from washington. thank you, brian. an important football safety meeting gets under way in new york city this morning. the nfl is cracking down on vicious hits, and what they decide could trickle all the way down to youth football leagues

across the country. "today in the bay's" bob redell is live in san jose with how brain injuries are changing the culture of football. >> reporter: the nfl's brain, head and neck medical committee meeting today and tomorrow in new york city to find out what they can do to try to decrease the number of concussions and traumatic brain injuries on the field, not only at the professional level. that's what they're going to be looking at, but this could trickle down to the local level like high school fields where we're at right now. this does come after a youth sports summit in d.c. that took place yesterday during which the national athletic trainers association agreed to team up with the nfl to push for laws to better protect young athletes. the idea is for each state to have a law similar to the one that's already enacted in washington state. that requires young athletes and patients to sign forms acknowledging the risk of a concussion. players with a concussion must be removed immediately and can't return until they have been cleared by a doctor. this issue has been receiving a

lot of attention lately. just a few days ago, heath miller of the pittsburgh steelers suffered a concussion after a vicious hit during a game. this past sunday, vikings qb brett favre was hit from behind and taken out of the game. turns out that was because of a shoulder injury. you might recall local low during last year's big bone game, san jose's matt blay was almost killed by a brutal hit that slammed his head into the ground. it took three major surgeries but he's doing much better. the national athletic trainers association reports that roughly 8,000 kids end up in the e.r. each year with some sort of sports-related injury. of that number, 45 of them die. reporting live here in san jose, bob redell, "today in the bay." giants second baseman freddy sanchez recovering from some off-season surgery. doctors performing arthroscopic surgery on his left shoulder. now, it's the same surgery he had last year. luckily on the non-throwing arm. the giants say barring any

complications, sanchez will be ready for the beginning of the season. meantime, the sharks have a busy few days ahead. they will play three games in four days. they play the flyers in philadelphia today at 4:00. they then head north to take on the sabres in buffalo, new york, tomorrow. they travel on friday to come back home and play the blackhawks at the shark tank saturday. don't forget the weekend started with a big win at detroit on monday. warriors are back on the court tonight in san antonio. game time 5:30. they lost a close one last night in dallas. stefan curry scoring 21 and david lee had 20 but the mavericks still win it 105-100. we also have one more score to tell you about this morning. the morgan hill raiders fell just one game short of making it to the pop warner national championship game. they lost to northeast chargers from baltimore 20-6 yesterday. the game was played in orlando, florida. now, if you remember, the team joined us here on "today in the bay" last week just before they

left, so we would like to say job well done. they made it to the final four and were one game away. >> stupid northeast chargers. i hate those guys! >> yeah, man. but what a deal to make it all the way to the national championship and one game away. that's awesome, and great experience for the kids. good kids. we want to check the commute with mike. >> things have been tough here as well. livermore for 580, we saw some of the earlier rain and early slowing because of that but it's held up pretty nicely. just a 25-minute drive. that's a typical pattern heading over towards the dublin interchange. sunol, some rain there and a little slowing but not too bad after things cleared up a bit. heading down into the south bay we see typical slowing in the northbound directions for san jose, 101, highway 87 and 85. we had tough commutes through the south bay yesterday, but this morning we're holding up pretty close to the normal pattern. a few more cars on the road because of rain and folks tend to take their own cars on rainy days. we have 880 southbound approaching the san mateo bridge. a few more cars there as well because folks heard about the

earlier accident on the upper deck of the bay bridge. but all lanes are cleared now. there's a bit of a backup at the toll plaza. the stall on the east shore freeway has cleared. a new stall for the caldecott eastbound opposite your commute but we don't like to see any problem tess caldecott tunnel. >> some of the rain going to end finally. we have to pay for it but then we'll get the payoff. >> the pbad part of the commute is all the rain coming down. the weekend is going to look pretty good, but right now it's not very pretty outside. we've had some moderate rain around novato down towards san rafael. look at san francisco right now. any time you see orange or red on my radar maps, i say that that's almost the same color code for the traffic because you see brake lights showing up. right now golden gate bridge, you're getting slammed pretty goodbye some rain. that will head to the bay bridge in the next five minutes. dublin and livermore, we saw the slower speeds there in the altamont pass. could be due to rain and low

jifblt. you're seeing that. clouds are filling in, very likely seeing rain dropping into the south bay. so a cloudy and rainy day today. we'll stay in the 50s all day long today, but tomorrow we expect scattered showers. big surf heading to the coast. 15-foot waves coming in. showers mainly for the north bay but the weekend on a dry note. just patchy fog to wrap up the weekend. president obama has taken a little time away from the podium and rigors of the oval office to appear on an episode of "myth busters" tonight. the president will join the bay area's own jamie hineman and adam savage on the discovery channel show this evening. they'll try to dispel the myth that a greek scientist used the sun's rays to reflect on mirrors and set fire to invading roman fleets back in 214. during monday's white house science fair the president told reporters that he taped his appearance, so he's got it

forever, but he did not get to blow anything up. >> the funny thing is "myth busters" have done this myth before in alameda. but when the president of the united states says do it again, then you've got to do it again. >> it's a cool show. >> alameda kids are the -- i forget who they were, who are steering the fields. >> kind of reenact it. >> that's fun to check out. thanks for joining us this morning. the "today" show comes up next. and of course we'll have a local news update for you in half an hour. play it safe on those wet roads and have a great day. hey, guys !

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