new this morning, a fancy new bike trail is coming to the east bay. i'm christie smith. we'll tell you where it goes and how much it costs coming up in a live report. the president delivers his state of the union address tonight. we'll have a preview about what he plans to talk about. plus, oakland's newly-elected mayor launches a new effort to keep east bay streets safe. a live look outside this morning. it is tuesday, january 25th. this is "today in the host bay."

good morning. everyone. i'm scott mcgrew. let's check the forecast with christina loren. happy tuesday to you. happy tuesday to you. especially if you have been enjoying the warmer temperatures. yesterday we broke temperature records in concord and hayward where they were 67 degrees. three degrees warmer today. we are talking about the 70s in late january in the bay area. very rare. all because the high pressure will not get out of the way. it is firmly positioned right over our area. it won't be moving throughout the rest of this week. temperatures in the east bay are in the low 40s. 40 in livermore. 41 in concord. right now we are starting out a little warmer than we were at this time yesterday. i'm bumping up the highs today. look at what to expect. 70 in fairfield and concord. and 70 degrees in livermore. we'll let you know just when we are expecting the next rain showers in our forecast. it will be quite some time, but i can tell you when.

let's go to mike inouye with the commute. you are saying 70 in january, holy cow. we have construction over near 880 and 92. we have a couple lanes blocked in either direction, northbound or southbound approaching the two left lanes on the side. we have the construction crew there. that should be picking up at 5:00 for the southbound direction and closer to 4:30 for the northbound direction. we have not heard about the crews moving yet. southbound 880 coming past the coliseum, no major issues until you are closer to the marina boulevard there with construction blocking a lane or two. mo no major slowings there. highway 4 coming out of bay point and heading to concord, a smooth drive. 680 near the walnut creek interchange is a nice flow as well. we'll give you more traffic patterns coming up in a bit. an uneasy morning in vallejo as police look for a man who they believe is armed and dangerous. one of two suspects in a connection with a murder near marine world. here's the description. authorities are looking for

27-year-old tioni hill. he is 5'5", 111 pounds. once again, he is considered armed and dangerous. if you have any information, you are urged to call vallejo police. we continue to talk to police on the phone with the very latest information. we'll let you know more as it becomes available. it is full-speed ahead for a plant to transform what's beneath a 12-mile stretch of tracks in the east bay. christie smith is live in oakland where the money is coming from. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning to you. some of the funding is in place. about $2.5 million, but they have mountains to climb because the total price tag for all this is about $30 million for a 12-mile bike trail that will

basically run from oakland all the way down to hayward. it would start just a little bit north of the fruitville guard station. that turns out to the be $2.5 million per mile. this would wind its way below the elevated b.a.r.t. tracks. they are moving forward with this plan. they are looking to have a transportation sales tax with $1.5 million coming through already as well. there's still environmental studies to do, but the idea is it would be an economic boost to the places around like the bay fair mall. still a lot more money is needed from federal and state sources because they want to get this whole thing rolling by summer of 2012. that's the latest from here. reporting live in oakland,

christie smith, "today in the east bay." a legal fight over circumstance sigs. an oakland pass forfiled paperwork with the state wanting the state attorney general to prosecute family and doctors involved in this procedure. the refreverend says males should have the decision to decide. since parting off part of a girl's generalals is part of a crime. he thinks in his reasoning that doing this to a boy should also be a crime. no word from the attorney general on the matter. the future of east bay schools goes up before the mount diablo school board again today. trustees will receive more detail on closure recommendations at their meeting tonight. now, they are looking to close three schools. there are several different options involved. it will save $1.5 million a year. each scenario lists three

schools that should be shut. tonight's meeting will be in concord at 7:30. the board will vote on the actual closures february 8th. these schools will close for the 2011/2012 year. that will begin in august. oakland's new mayor jean quan will roll out her plan to cut crime through learning today. she'll meet with school leaders at coliseum college press to announce the launch of a new program to have police officers mentoring kids. it is called "youth safe haven." it is meant to improve relations between the community and the police. last night quan started cleaning up parts of east oakland a couple weeks ago. how much did it help? she said about 7 tons of garbage was picked up. she is convinced to improve east oakland with the community's help. >> i have learned through my past experience that if i can help the neighbors meet each

other and organize, and if the city will back them up we can make a real change in the neighborhood. >> mayor qu a, n is now urging people to form neighborhood watches to clean up their blocks as well. the state controller has his eye on four east bay development agencies targeting them for a review. this comes after the governor earlier this month said he's concerned redevelopment agencies empty money from schools and cities and counties. he wants to disband about 400 of them. hercules, pittsburgh, richmond and fremont are on the list for review. hercules came under scrutiny for charging the city several hundred dollars for his expenses. subaru is looking to move new cars through richmond's port. they are working on a five-year contract with the port. if it gets done it would mean 40 full-time jobs and a million annually.

honda moves 145,000 cars already through that port. let's go to christina on an amazing january forecast. >> it has been an amazing january. in fact, lloyd and lindsey young have been working in this area for a long time. lloyd says he can't remember a stretch of weather like this in the bay area as long as he's been here. quite impressive. yesterday we broke temperature records in places like concord and hayward. 67 degrees. we hit 69 degrees in santa rosa. we are actually starting out a little warmer this morning. so i think today we'll end up just a little bit warmer and bump up each and every temperature by about two or three degrees. that means 70s across the bay area. temperatures right now in the 40s turning over to 70 degrees today. in oakland heading throughout this afternoon, right about 3:00 p.m., 70 in san jose. and 70 degrees in livermore. really comfortable conditions, especially this afternoon. you'll probably be rolling down your windows in your car as it

gets 15 degrees warmer in the surrounding air. temperatures will be nice and comfortable all throughout this week. let's go to the traffic report now with mike i you. inouye. livermore is looking good. westbound 580 we have an incident just reported in livermore. so far no slowing. we'll see more slowing at 6:00. a. expect to see speeds bringing you around to a 20 to 25-minute commute. we do see slowing now at southbound 280 on the other side of the bay. my sensors are starting to sort this out. i'll check on that north of san francisco. coming in from the east bay on the richmond/san rafael brim, a new accident at san quentin. we have activity that should be clearing to the shoulder shortly. a live look at the bay bridge

with a fluid drive into the city. a beautiful shot. i like the flowing traffic, be thaw will slow down at 6:30. back to you. thank you very much. coming up, the rules of the road are not the same for every california driver. we'll explain why some state workers are getting a free ride on toll roads and who is playing for it. distracted while driving. police are going after texting pedestrians. and look at this. frozen in ice. we'll tell you why this car turned into a popsicle in new york city. you are looking at a live picture of the bay bridge. we'll be back in a moment. 3q while there are some home disasters you can't avoid, there is one you can.

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like, the stairs or the elevator? baked or fried? what if these small choices determine if you'll be the 1 out of every 3 women who'll die of heart disease this year? these choices might not seem like life-changing today, but women are dying of heart disease at the rate of almost 1 per minute. luckily, it's mostly preventable. choose to act. make your choice at goredforwomen.org. welcome back to you. as you can see, we have this wonderful new studio. jean is the floor director. we are excited to be here. here's a story to make you happy that we live in california. and ice-open crusted car partially free in new york city this morning. this is what it looked like before they started to scrape it away. it is not a prank. it is a leaking pipe under a

manhattan street that open cased the car in ice causing the pavement to sink. unfortunately, the back window was broken in the process. it is something we are unlikely to see around here because we have summer weather in january. christina loren has a look at your forecast. yeah, i know. it is downright balmy this time of the year. we are going to see changes today. the changes will keep it warmer overnight, but the good news is we'll see temperatures, if you like them in the 70-degree range, that's what we are expecting today and torment tomorrow. what you will notice is cloud cover making its way through a strong ridge of high pressure. only the highest clouds will get through. we have ice crystals, and you'll see those clouds with filtered sunshine. a little more filtered than yesterday. high pressure is firmly in control of our weather pattern. it is not budging. and for us that means we still have a little bit of fog to contend with creeping in through the delta this morning with a

dense fog advisory for the entire san joaquin valley until 11:00 a.m. you are down to a half mile of visibility in santa rosa. the east bay is okay right now. fairfield, a little bit of reduced visibility for you. from the east bay take it easy out there. temperaturewise we are talking about the 70s. 70 in san jose. 70 for livermore. concord, 70. 7degrees in fairfield, 70 degrees in fairfield. we are starting out with temperatures in the mid-40s. the sup won't work as hard to get our temperatures up. it will be a beautiful day. it be the warmest day in the extended period. 68 on thursday. taking it into the weekend with maybe, maybe a rain chance in the northern portions of the north bay. that looks like sunday. then we have a better chance as we head into the end of next week. that's what the weather looks like. here's how the roadways look right now with mike inouye. this is a great report. now i have to tell folks they

are going to see slowing. the slowing we did see on the san francisco side off the bay bridge is clearing up near i-80 and 280. the cartinas and have a knee that bridges are smooth heading into the east bay. heading north of there we have raw conditions with a 65-mile-per-hour drive there. then you talk about the fog hitting fair field. keep that in mind heading through the area. 66 will be like 26 at about 5:30. >> when the car leaves venetian bridge at zero miles an hour, how fast will it get there? of course. many people are playing games on facebook and the iphone. and we wonder why the economy is in the state it is.

nicole lapan is live with more for us this morning. >> reporter: u.s. airlines discovered the recipe for success after losing billions of dollars in the past decade. they are just flying less with fewer planes. travel demand is up. the planes are fuller than ever. the eight largest u.s. airlines are projected to earn a combined $5 billion this year. that will benefit investors, but it has been tough on you and i, the traveler. airfares are up 14% from last year. fewer than one in five seats are empty and we have the added fees we all love to hate. it may be the perfect time to buy a car. interest rates an auto loans are hit i hitting lows. some are going as low as 2.99%. experts say banks are getting more competitive for your business and automakers are offering incentives like 0% financing to get you in the door. if you are not ready to buy

but would like to rent and electric car you can. get around in san francisco will let you rent a tesla. they provide insurance, but you better huhry hurry as the promotion ends at the end of the month. also, hurry over to the golden arches because it will cost you a few more coins to get your happy meal. i know this is very sad to you, scott. mcdonald's plans to raise prices on its menu to offset food costs. the fast food chain expects prices to rise for commodity prices that went up 75%. you are never too old for a happy meal. just saying. >> fair enough. my dog really likes the toys as well. nicole lapan at cnbc headquarters. a new iphone app will enable the hero in you.

the san ramon fire department will announce this later today as something that is absolutely amazing. we'll talk about it on the 6:00 news tonight, but it is one of the most exciting things in technology. it is being kept secret, but it will be announced in san ramon at 10:00 this morning. if you want to check in on your income tax return, there's an app for that. the internal revenue service added a smart phone app called the irs to go. it lets many check on their tax return. personal information is encrypted for your safety. the free app can be downloaded at the apple store or the android marketplace. president obama will hold his state of the union address tonight. nbc bay area's tracie potts is in washington with a preview of tonight's address and what republicans are hoping the president will do to start cutting back on the nation's

debt. >> manic increases in veteran health care. >> reporter: president obama tells military family he's expanding military support. more programs, more money. republicans don't like it. >> reign in this wasteful government spending we have seen. >> what will we sacrifice? will we sacrifice the education of our children for these wars? >> reporter: the focus will be jobs and competition. the president will deal with the nation' $14 trillion debt. >> you'll hear the president talk about a whole host of economic things, including getting the fisal house in order. >> reporter: the house first votes on cutting this year's budget to what we spent in 2008. how much? $60 billion? $100 billion? >> the point we are making is you haven't given us the starting point number. >> reporter: paul ryan gives the official republican response tonight. michelle bacchman speaks for the

tea party. >> ten weeks ago he wasn't going to make the playoffs and now he's in the super bowl. >> reporter: but can he score and win? the white house says president obama will probably be tweaking this speech well into the afternoon. tracie potts, nbc news, washington. >> and for in-depth coverage and analysis of tonight's state of the union address, keep it here on nbc bay area. 59:00 we'll have a preview of the president's address. at 6:00 nbc "nightly news" is on with brian williams. then the speech will be live at 6:30 from the nation's capital. then at 11:00 we'll have highlights of the address and localize it to you. we'll see what's coming up later today in the bay. we'll say good morning to laura garcia-cannon. good morning to you. >> good morning, scott. good morning, everyone. coming up, 54% of california companies are looking to hire in the next year. we'll tell you the top three

companies you should be sending your resumé to. and a new study shows why you shouldn't ask to boor reborrow someone else's cell phone again. it involves bathrooms and facebook. enough said? those stories and more are coming up later on "today in the bay." thank you very much. >> can you hear me now? >> traffic laws apply to everyone, right? it urns turns out more than a million public employees and their families have special access to a program that makes it almost impossible to track them down if they don't pay for bridge tolls or red light tickets. vicky nguyen tells us about a law passed years ago to help police officers but is now being abused. >> reporter: imagine if you could run red lights, blast toll takers and park where you want without worrying about paying the cost of a single ticket. technically, you can't. if you have a confidential license plate available to a select group of state workers and their families.

when they get a shot of a red light runner, the dmv doesn't show a home address to where the ticket can be sent. record show over the past two years there were more than 27,000 unpaid tolls by those with confidential plates. the bay bridge, have a knee venetia and cartinas were the most popular areas. drivers blew through red lights hundreds of times without paying a penny. at an average of $5 a toll plus penalties that's more than $800,000 in violences violations. the program started in 1998 to protect police from retaliation and not listing their home addresses with the dmv. state workers from 1800 different agencies can apply for these plates. from corporate personnel to muse seam guard and park rangers.

in all, 1.5 million people on the road with protected plates. >> i have like i'm getting ripped off. >> if we have to pay they should pay also. >> when the toll dodgers are found they pay a fraction of what they owe thanks to a backlog at the dmv and negotiation with the toll agency. in one case someone who skipped the toll 242 times paid only $29 to settle up. that's just 12 cents per violation. not the $5 you and i spend when we cross the bridge. >> it is another thing being taken advantage of. >> we want to close that loophole. >> reporter: jeff miller is working on a new bill requiring everyone to require a specific home address. >> no one is above the law. they have to pay those fines. >> reporter: there's a simple less bureaucratic solution. eliminate the law. >> i think the law has long passed its usefulness. >> reporter: confidential plates

are no longer needed because new laws protect everyone's privacy no matter who they work for. vicky nguyen, nbc, bay area news. >> the plates do cost the state several hundred dollars. legislation to change the plates has failed in the past but the public safety union. let's go to christina loren this morning to check on the forecast. >> more beautiful weather on the way today as high pressure is not budgeting. you will note a few more high clouds making their way through the bay area, especially along the peninsula later today. that means filtered sunshine with temperatures reaching 70 degrees. warmer today than where we were yesterday. we have a little bit of fog to tell you about in the east bay. concord, a little bit of reduced visibility. same thing for fairfield. take it easy if you are headed from the east bay to the north bay. we have some dense fog this morning in santa rosa. here's what we are talking about

later on today. 70 degrees in oakland. 70 in concord. 70 degrees in fairfield. temperatures are 15 degrees above average for this time of the year. and they are going to stay warm. 70 degrees today. we can't complain about that. i personally like the 70s. can you dig it, scott? can you dig it? >> fine with me. i can dig it. coming up, the bay area hotel you want to avoid. we have the list of dirtiest hotels in america. brent and laura are coming up on the backside of this break. mac and cheese need a boost ? french's helps that, too. chicken in need of cheering up? add french's to your marinade. it's a surprising way to add a little fun to your food and a whole lot of happy to your family. for recipes and valuable coupons, go to frenchs.com to add a little happy to almost any meal. french's. happy starts here.

i'm bob redell live in the south bay where there are severe cuts in store for one of the agency that is protects child n children. we'll have that coming up in a live report. what san jose is doing to show the team they are serious about the deal. plus, the court case today that could impact people nationwide. see what you want to post on facebook and how that can determine whether or not you keep your job. and a live look outside this morning. it is a beautiful day overlooking san jose. it is tuesday, january 25th, this is "today in the bay."