good morning. i'm christie smith. bay area traffic is no longer among the absolute worst of the worst. and the reasons why may surprise you. we'll have that story coming up in a live report. turn yourself in. friend and family send a message to the man accused of snatching a 4-year-old boy from his grandmother's arms. plus, smoking in california. a new study grade may help fight efforts to get quitters. and we'll have a look at

your weekend forecast with christina. today is january 20th, "today in the bay." good morning, everyone. i'm scott mcgrew. it is 4:30. we'll check the hour-by-hour east bay forecast with christina loren. good morning, christina. good morning, scott. if you have been enjoying this beautiful weather, we have more in store for today. high pressure firmly in control of our weather pattern. and it looks like we don't have any rain in sight because of this really strong ridge of high pressure at least for the next seven days. so a sunny afternoon is what you can expect the next few days. it will be a beautiful weekend, but today we'll see temperatures about 10 to 15 degrees above average this time of the year. we are starting out relatively mild. in oakland, good morning to you, 53 degrees. 52 in concord. we are expecting highs by noon to rise above the seasonal averages, which is 57 degrees this time of the year. we'll be in the 60s as of noon.

making your way home from work today, as we get closer and closer to the weekend, 64 in sunnyvale at 3:00 p.m. we'll let you know how warm it will be and even warmer for tomorrow. back to you, scott. we'll go to mike. warm weather is bringing in wind and blusteriness as you are driving in. >> it is an issue over the east mountain peaks. take note of that if you are traveling through the area. the on-ramp heading through danville will be blocked for the next 20 minutes or so. watch for crews doing work on 680 itself and on the freeway once you get on there. rug gear road also in the southbound direction you'll find a lane or two blocked over the next hour while crews clean up through that area as well. the walnut creek interchange, light volumes of traffic. 880 reopened in the northbound direction heading to 92. you'll still find construction at the transition.

watch for the crews. it will continue until 6:00 a.m. in the southbound direction. a live look at the san mateo bridge just past the toll plaza. right now we have great news about the commute locally. back to you. in fact. christie smith will join us now with a new report out this morning concerning the commute and grade gridlock hurting bay area drivers. let's go to christie. >> reporter: this is a good news/bad news scenario. traffic in the bay area is no longer among the top five in the country. it has slipped down to number six, but there's hot debate this morning as to what the reasons are behind this. could it be that the poor economy is still continuing or because roadway improvements in the bay area are so effective that traffic is flowing better? we are talking about things like carpool lanes and highway widening projects. the study just released today by the texas transportation

institute has been comparing and judging nationwide for more than 20 years. t they believe this is tied to the recession that hit california hard plus the improvements on interstate 80, the highway 4 bypass and 580 in eastern alameda county where we are this morning. well, this good news may only be temporary with researchers warning that when the economy does fully rebound traffic may return to the frustrating levels we saw about three or four years ago. let's hope not. that's the latest from here, reporting live in livermore, christie smith, "today in the bay." investigators in california are back to square one this morning. the break in the case they thought they had yesterday ended up empty. a car similar to the alleged kidnapper's was spotted driving into the delta canal there. investigators say it belonged to someone else.

authorities are continuing their search for 4-year-old giuliani cardinas. >> the vigil started with prayer. prayer that 4-year-old giuliani cardinas will be found soon. his mother is 8 months pregnant. >> he had a good relationship with my son. which is a good thing. i'm hoping that my son will come home safe. >> reporter: the boy was snatched from his grandmother's arms on tuesday by his father. despite a breakup with him five months ago, he spoke away the boy and took off. >> just give yourself up, man. >> reporter: police put out an

amber alert. that got the attention of a man who told police he thought he saw the suspect drive a car into the canal. divers searched the car wednesday afternoon. at dusk they pulled the car out but it turned out to be the wrong car. >> if we don't find any other objects in the canal we are going to move that operation just south of here and will drag the bottom of the canal there. if we find something we'll send in the divers again. >> reporter: the canal search will continue thursday. until then, family and friends are hoping the boy will return soon. >> that's unfortunate that tabitha is expecting his baby. i think he knows he's in trouble now. >> reporter: the boy's grandmother is receiving a lot of love. and she's optimistic. >> i want my grandson back. meanwhile, school district leaders have their hand full after emotional pleas from

parents and students not to close their school. this is after the advisory committee recommended closing three schools. which schools is up to the board. people packed north high school last night. the committee is made up of teachers, parents and other students. they left one group out of the decision making process. >> i bet nobody ever asked what the kids thought. well, this is what i think. this would be one of the worst closures ever. >> lumberg middle school, silverwood elementary and holbrooke elementary. that's one possible group that could be closed. or glen brooke middle school silverwood elementary and ran elementary in concord, or monte gardens in concord along with sequoia elementary and sequoia middle school.

the district will vote on which schools to close february 8. meanwhile, a concord couple will take legal action today against former governor arnold schwarzenegger. the santos family says they will file a lawsuit this afternoon accusing schwarzenegger of violating their constitutional rights. before leafing office schwarzenegger committed the murder sentence of a man without notifying the parents of the victim. nunez is the son of fabian nunez. the younger nunez was sentenced to 16 years in prison for his role in the murder of louis santos. he'll serve just seven of the years under the commuted sentence. the former governor has apologized to the santos family for not telling them about the confrontation. good news for vallejo. the money problems seem to be coming to an end. they have a balanced budget after renegotiating all the labor arrangements and renegotiating its creditors.

it may be able to exit bankruptcy. in 2008 thethe city filed for protection from its debts. earlier this week the city sub mipted its plan of adjustment to bankruptcy court as part of the process to emerge from bankruptcy. police are searching for the man who robbed a west america bank yesterday afternoon at the branch on ferry street in martinez. the robber jumping the counter demanding money from the tellers. he motioned to his waistband as though he had a weapon but he didn't say whether he really had one. he got away with an undisclosed amount of cash he brought in a bag with him. police never say how much money was taken as part of a way of discouraging further bank robberies. a new report reveals oakland has the lowest number of alcohol-involved collisions in the state and the fewest drunk driving-related arrests. but the city did not fare well

when it came to hit-and-run pedestrian accidents. oakland had the third highest number according to the study. researchers compiled the numbers from agencies like the department of justice and the chp in the state's 13 biggest cities. let's check in with mike who has an early look at traffic this morning. good morning, mike. >> good morning. yeah, christie gave us good news -- bad news in the traffic area. this is the first to kickoff the commute. 71 in about an hour will be down near 31 and then in the 20s. we are looking over to brentwood, that's the area where the highway 4 bypass has seen a lot of improvements. that's smoother heading down the area of discovery bay. we have seen a little lighter volume of traffic as well. that could be due to the economy. 580 should see an express lane installed over the next couple of years. that could improve things coming in and out of the altamonte

pass. coming down through sunol, so far we have not seen any major effect for the morning commute there. we'll keep watching. all right. we'll go to christina with a warm forecast. warmer than usual. this is a strange blip on the bar graph. >> it really is. you know, every time we check we are looking for the rain. and it is just not in the forecast, at least for the next seven to eight days. this is why. we have a really strong ridge of high pressure set up over the bay area for this time of the year. we usually don't see temperatures as warm. we usually see temperatures near 57 degrees for our daytime highs. but today they will be closer to 70 degrees. and as you can see, the storm track is taking well off to our north because of the big strong ridge. and that will be the case as we head through the next few days. not a whole lot of change in terms of the forecast. we'll talk about why. warm conditions, high pressure. we have a system of low pressure retreating off to the east. the two combining create a great pressure gradient. we don't have any winds to tell

you about, but heading throughout the afternoon the winds will take up considerably in places like oakland. we have sustained winds at 12 miles per hour out of the northeast. the wind will be a factor heading throughout this afternoon, but this morning it is down right pleasant to start. 48 in haywood. if you take your lunch break, we are in the 60s in san jose and sunny veil. today's high, 70 degrees in santa cruz. we'll talk about what's to come in the next few days. even warmer tomorrow as old man winter went to florida. back to you. >> that's where the old men go. fighting the urge to light up. coming up, states get graded on efforts to help smokers quit. see how california stacks up. and the debate over health care reform back in the nation's capital. we'll have the latest on the vote to repeal the bill. plus, it is a good time to visit the car dealership. we'll explain why.

all right. so watch this, a hot air balloon steering off course landing in the middle of melbourne near phillips bay in australia. the balloon was supposed to land on the beach but winds pushed it almost a mile out to sea before it began to hover over the water. everybody got out safely. the passengers were transferred

into a police boat while the pilot and the balloon were towed to land. let's check in with christina loren and the forecast. as i was driving in it was very, very windy. i assume that's part of it heating up. >> oh, that's part of it. that's all part of it. it is also preventing the fog formation. we have absolutely no fog to tell you about this morning, but make sure you have the shades handy as we see a lot of sunshine this morning. and that can be kind of a dangerous thing if you are driving into the sun. the temperaturewise right now, we are nice and mild with high pressure in control. we have a system of low pressure off to our east. the two combine create a pressure gradient. we have a little bit of wind this morning. the wind will pick up substantially heading throughout the afternoon and this evening in the mountain pass. if you drive a high-profile vehicle, take it easy. as we head throughout the evening, the wind are not that bad except in the higher elevations. 48 degrees in san mateo. 43 in santa cruz. 53 right now in oakland.

by noon we are turning over to the 60s. it will be ab normally warm and sunny this time of the year. 70 degrees in santa cruz in the sun of the day. and even in the shade temperatures will be in the 60s. i think, scott, a lot of people will be rolling down the windows and turning on the ac. >> or over highway 17 it will be 70 degrees in santa cruz. on the way into work, i mentioned the wind blowing the trash and stuff. it was either a pail or a bucket. i couldn't decide. >> then it hit your car? >> we are all all right. the bucket, not so much. >> oh, bummer. we are going to hayward near 880 with the construction going on. more lanes are open. the connector from 880 to 92 west on the southbound side is open. no problems from the toll plaza out of oakland, but you may have trouble heading northbound into the transition. we know that is a construction zone. we watch for folks safety sake. we are amazed that 880 is

continuing. 580, no major delays. the east shore freeway has very light volume. backups until 6:30 at the toll plaza. a beautiful view here. scott, the camera is not shaky here, but there are gusty winds at time. back to you. now to news for your bottom line. the weekly travel news comes out. proctor and gamble wants lawmakers to lower corporate tax rates. they are making that argument on capitol hill later today. and five of the top 20 places in the country to work right here in the bay area. for more on that, it is nicole lapan. good morning, nicole. >> reporter: good morning, scott. kuddos to you. fortune magazine released the best new companies. dreamworks, apple, all in the top 20. congrats. top of the list is sas that

gives their employees other things. unlimited sick days. are you listening? that's a pretty good deal. scott, what do you think? >> i'm sorry, nicole. they were totally telling me about some drops. i was not limiting. >> reporter: they are not limiting sick days. i'm just saying you guys in the bay have all these perks. >> free dry cleaning and everything else, yes. >> reporter: very fancy. don't listen to me. i was talking to you viewers, anyway. we are in the thick of earnings season. we'll be watching the financial sector today. we'll also focus on google reporting after the close. we are zeroing in on the reports closely with stocks taking a tumble following disappointing earnings from wells fargo. we have a ton of data out on unemployment. you mentioned a second ago that this could drive the day on wall street. the futures look flat. we have two weeks to go and

investors are hoping it is not done. another headline is minivans are becoming cooler. chrysler is working with the epa to develop hybrid engines for many vans. they plan to design and build a prototype by november and finish testing by the end of next year. chrysler has been criticized for its vehicle lineup as you know, which is very heavy on the gas-guzzling trucks and suvs. the 2010 models rank last among the 13 automakers for fuel economy, dead last. as you know, guys, we are also watching a ton of stories out of the food world. like harry & david unwelcoming a gift. the company best known for the gift baskets and the bartlett pears have to restructure debt. holiday time is when you get the perfect peaches and apples. they didn't do so well. >> i can't believe that a

company charging so much for a pear can be in debt. >> i'm not sure. i don't have any experience buying those expensive fruits. okay. let's talk car dealers. they are offering low interest rates on loans, sometimes 0%. this is good news if you are trying to buy a car. analysts say the auto industry sales have improved but are still suffering. so the bare-bones interest rates are zero helping to sell cars. in washington republicans claim that vept to vote in the house to repeal the nation's health law. it is not a done deal. it may never be thanks to the senate. tricy potts has more. >> reporter: the gloves are off. >> health care costs have gone up because of the insurance bureaucracy. >> the gentleman's time has expired. >> reporter: repeal this $2

trillion fiscal train wreck. >> reporter: three democrats joining the republicans saying no to president obama's health plan. >> when you order every american to buy health insurance whether they want it or not, that's the government takeover of health care. >> the last thing we should be doing today or any day is making a decision and casting a vote to put insurance companies back in the driver's seat. >> reporter: in the senate democrats are still in the driver's seat meaning the effort to repeal will probably fail there. but both sides agree, this vote counts. >> this is not symbolic. this is why we were september here. and we will not stop until we repeal. >> it isn't symbolic to the 149 million americans with health conditions who now are locked out or priced out of the market. >> reporter: next, the new republican health plan. lawmakers start working on it today. >> we expect them to act in an efficient way. >> reporter: no word yet on how long that will take.

but we know it will be a completely different approach instead of requiring everyone to buy health insurance they want the sickest americans to be able to purchase as a group. tracy potts, nbc news, washington. all right. we'll take a look at what's coming up later "today in the bay." for that we say good morning to brent cannon. >> good morning, scott. are you listening? the future of the bay area bridge is largely tied to the history of the computer. bob redell will take a unique look at where we have been and where we are going. plus, rush limbaugh causes more controversy. now a bay area state senator is calling for an apology. we'll tell you what rush limbaugh had to say and what the senator's reaction was coming up later in the bay. the american lung association, meanwhile, says most states failed to curb smoking and tobacco use. erin edwards is here with the latest. >> reporter: you are looking at the single most preventable cause in disease and death, although it is ultimately up to

smokers to quit if they want, the new report from the american lung association finds state governments aren't doing enough to help smokers kick the habit and protect non-smokers from helping puffers exhale. >> policies are the best way to reduce smoking because you affect the population at once. >> reporter: 40 states and the district of columbia received an "f" when it comes to funding tobacco quitting and controlling programs. most have raised cigarette taxes but most are not funneling the money to smoking programs. >> if you continue to smoke, it will cost the state medicaid program as well as other programs overall. it will be tremendously devastating for their health. >> reporter: the government got a "b" grade for helping regulate the tobacco industry. the fda banned flavored cigarettes and unveiled graphic warnings to be added to cigarette labels next year. and the health reform law requires insurance plans to cover efforts to quit smoking.

however -- >> it is a little less aggressive when it comes to medicaid and mandates only that pregnant smokers have access to cessation services. >> reporter: nationwide smoking rates have been falling but over the past few years they stalled among kids and adults. and experts say federal and state governments have a long way to go to help more people kick the habit or never start in the first place. erika edwards, nbc news. >> here's how california stacked up in the report. spending money on programs to curb smoking gets an "f." meanwhile, it will be a fabulous air day today. christina loren is here with warm temperatures and just beautiful conditions. >> especially this time of the year you cannot ask for better condition. the bitter cold of last week is a thing of the past. actually, we are going to see temperatures rather warm for the next few days. we are staying in the 60s and keeping the sunshine in the afternoon. and this morning no fog to

report. that's good news. you will need the shades as the sun will be quite bright making your way to work. high pressure is firmly in control keeping things nice and mild for us. really, this big strong ridge of high pressure isn't going anywhere. it looks like it will be staying put as we head through the next few days. for us, that means beautiful weather. we do have a little bit of wind today. and these winds pick up heading throughout the afternoon. right now in oakland you are seeing a northeast wind at 12 miles per hour. in concord and fair field it will be at 5. that's the only weather story we have for you aside from the very warm conditions this time of the year. 48 degrees in hayward. turning over to 59 degrees by noon as you take your lunch break. and today's highs, we are talking about the 70s in some cities. 70 degrees in santa cruz. in the sun about 60 degrees in the shade where the shadows are. 65 in gilroy. as you can see, no real change in our pattern as we head through the next few days. temperatures will be close to 70 degrees. back to you. thank you very much.

coming up, robbed right outside their house. robbers targeting the safest cities in the bay area. we'll tell you where they are striking. and the police are meeting about it. brent and laura are coming up on the backside of this break.

new this morning, the search continues for a 4-year-old boy missing since tuesday. good morning. i'm marla tellez