egypt close to the violence. we are live from her home in hayward this morning with this story coming up in a live report. and before you head out that front door, grab the jacket and the sunglasses. it will be a cold start with temperatures right now in the 40s. we are warming up to 70 degrees. i'll let you know how warm it will be in your city coming up. we are following a few fires reported in san francisco. the fires mostly contained, but now it is affecting your commute through the city. here's the latest in a live report. a live look outside from san jose this morning. this is one of the places where we are looking at a pretty nice day, thursday, february 3rd, on "today in the bay." good thursday morning to you. i'm laura garcia-cannon. >> i'm brent cannon. it is straight up 6:00 right now. >> we begin with a developing situation in egypt. >> in fact, we have a live look at cairo right now this morning. you can see a lot of people

still out and about. the violence has been flowing all morning long. it seems to have settled down and will spark up again with more of a violent crash. army tanks and soldiers moved in to separate government supporters and anti-government demonstrators overnight, but since then they have moved away and out of the way to allow the two sides to kind of clash once again. >> we do have a look at some of the violence from overnight. both sides started throwing rocks and molotov cook tames and gunfire broke out. the last report said five people were dead, hundreds remain injured. and this morning we are finding out more about a woman trapped in her apartment in cairo. >> neither. mary thornberry is talking to us by phone. she said men tried to break into her apartment several times. >> i have a sharp knife. i have my walking cane.

and i have my rolling pin. the place is being vandalized. it is my home. >> one of thornberry's friends lives here in the bay area. she's been in touch here with us. we have more on her efforts to try to get out safely. >> reporter: yes, we are live here in hayward. thank you for allowing us inside your home. we just heard from her last night with brian williams. you spoke to her within six hours. >> yes, twice i have spoken to her. my daughter has been on the phone with her constantly. she's in a really frightening situation.

we need to find some help for her to get her out of that apartment, which is right on tahrir square, across from the egyptian museum. >> reporter: and the u.s. embassy has actually told her that -- sorry, ma'am, we cannot help you. in fact, take a taxicab to the airpo airport, which literally is impossible at this point. we also got word that nbc correspondent lester holt is trying to get to her. and he was met with violence and resistance as well. she is still on the sixth floor of the apartment building. she is 76 years old. >> she is. and to the best of her knowledge she's the only person in this building. why would you stay if you have an out? >> reporter: what about food and water? does she have enough supplies? >> i told her that she could eat cat food and she laughed, but i

was really quite serious. it has been a number of days. she can't get to the bank to get her social security check. and there's no shopping. there's no going out there. she is too frail for that. >> reporter: and you also have to deal with ellen's daughter who lives 20 miles from the violence. we spoke to her just a few minutes ago via skype. >> there are stories of medical supplies being thrown into the river by police. food is being confiscated. a friend just called trying to go to the hospital to donate blood and was attacked. it is just really going down fast. and we are getting really nervous of people who are in the city and being in tahrir i can't imagine. >> reporter: the good news is your daughter for all intense purposes is safe at this point. >> she is as safe as can be. however, one of her friends went to give blood and was beaten

badly. and is on the way to the airport now. she is praying they will be from now on targeting foreigners as well. they had no idea of targeting supporters. and the police are nowhere to be seen. >> reporter: ellen, thank you very much. thank you for explaining the situation. >> many americans are still in there. >> reporter: we'll be talking to you again at 6:30. stick with us, we are live in hayward this morning. marla tellez for "today in the bay." thank you for bringing that story to us. >> a 25-year-old man is in chill this mortgage charged with molesting children at an elementary after school day care program in the south bay. police are now concerned there may be more victims. "today in the bay's" bob redell is live at trace elementary school with more. >> reporter: that's because this isn't the first time the suspect has worked with children. police tell us he is also

working at a camp and a youth ministry here in san jose and los angeles. but the crime that detectives do know of alledgedly took place in this modular home at trace elementary. keith woodhouse was accused of inappropriately touching five girls under the age of 10 while being a counselor at this after schoolchild care facility located at trace elementary. the program said there were no red flags on his record and he cleared a blgd check when he started here last august. he did not enter a plea during his arraignment last friday. the san jose unified school district has pointed out that this is not their program, that the child development center just uses their space. >> and they have a quality program. this is just a very unfortunate incident. they went through the proper checks with this person, so i know they will probably be looking at the program and making sure all their checks and balances are in place. >> reporter: the child development center sent out a letter to the parents of the roughly 60 children in the program to let them know what

was going on. the center said it is fully cooperating with the police investigation. from here in san jose, bob redell, "today in the bay." thank you, bob. pg&e is ordered to reduce the pressure in many of its gas lines, including two that are under south bay neighborhoods. the state public utilities commission says pg&e ran the gas lines well above the legal safety levels within the past few years. late last night pg&e admitted that it had intentionally increased the pressure on dozens of lines a handful of times. the utility says the pressure went above the maximum limit set by only a few pounds. the lines involved include a 3.5 mill stretch from mill tee das to san jose. a half-mile stretch in milpedas and one near antioch hill. also a 17.75 stretch from manseca to modesto. a police officer is in trouble with the law himself. 45-year-old gregory reed is

accused of stealing the registration sticker off of a car he pulled over in january last year. police say he then put the sticker on a car the that he co-owned. he is charged with em breezelement and turned himself in yesterday. a verizon iphone is available through pre-order this morning. scott mcgrew says you are going to stick to your blackberry. >> that's right. for those people who want one, the verizon website started accepting preorders at midnight our time. by all accounts it is going well. note that is the preorder for verizon customers only. if you are not a verizon customer you have to wait until next wednesday. either way, you don't get the phone until a week from today, february 10th. at&t not ignoring the new threat pointing out the advantages at&t has over verizon. first and foremost, you can talk on the phone and surf the web at

the same time on an at&t phone. you have to choose one or the other on verizon. at&t phones work oversays as well. verizon uses a different service not found in europe. the wall street journal points out data downloads are faster on at&t. as for the advantages of the verizon phone, you can talk to people on the phone. that's kind of the biggest one you got there, brent. unbroken phone lines. >> pretty good. they need that. you can soon be waiting longer and paying more to ride the rails on caltrains. they are expected to declare an emergency on their budget today as they face a $30 million deficit. fares will likely increase and services could be cut as early as july. 6:09 right now, certainly a cold start to the morning, but things will warm up nicely. >> nicely. lots of sunshine for us.

and, you know, if you are trying to plan your wardrobe for tomorrow, tomorrow is a big day, especially if you are bay area proud. tomorrow is wear red to draw awareness to heart disease day. so tomorrow if you wear red you are supporting a really good cause. and the highly encourage you to do so. we have a big event coming up to support this very important message. log on to facebook where we'll have a fashion show tomorrow at macy's at the westfield oak ridge shopping center between 5:00 and 8:00. laura hosted it in the past. this year i have a chance to help out as well. she has three little ones at home and is busy. i would love to meet you out there. more importantly, if you wear red tomorrow you are supporting a really important cause. it is hard to believe this is the number one killer of women in this country. 45 in oakland. same for san francisco. a little cooler this morning running three to five degrees cooler across the board. we do have the widespread 30s in

the outlying areas of the city this morning. 32 degrees in gilroy. 36 in livermore. you are at 33 in fairfield. and pretty close to 33 degrees in napa. i think our temperatures are going to drop as we head throughout the next hour or so, but then they start to climb as full sunshine will be out. i would say by 7:15. 8:00 a.m. we'll have a beautiful clear sky overhead. lyle i'll let you know how warm it will be for this weekend. any problems on this thursday on the roadways? we do have a fire now reported in san francisco. actually, two separate fires. the mayor one is westbound market street now closed because of the fire in an apartment building near the theater. it is affecting market near sanchez and castro street. this is where they all come together at the roadway. we are watching for the activity. crews are still on the scene, but the fire has been contained. a smaller fire is also seeing activity near 17th and hartford.

keep in mind, this is a three-block area where we have a couple incidents of the fire crews on the scene. eastbound market is getting through the scene. i'll get you another look out there and the amazing approach to the scene in my next report. back to you. thank you, mike. >> the time is 6:12. still to come on "today in the bay," the worst storm in more than a century slams australia. we'll show you some of the aftermath of that coming up. and people from texas to maine are digging out of the blizzard that closed airports and sent drivers slipping down roads. it destroyed buildings, in fact. we'll have an update coming up. ♪ [ male announcer ] when sean was looking at mba programs,

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good morning to you. a thursday morning already. a live look outside at the golden gate bridge this morning. clear, clear view across the bridge. a clear sky means a colder start to the morning. we'll check temperatures with christina. meantime, cities across the country are cleaning up after a massive winter blizzard swept through dozens of states. >> pretty amazing. new england feels the effects of the snow. take a look at this building that completely collapsed under tremendous weight of the snow on the rooftop. millions of americans are struggling to dig out of it. hundreds of cars are stuck in chicago. and flights are grounded at o'hare international airport. city people can't come or go. the city also closed school for the first time in 12 years. officials say the conditions are just too severe. >> the wind gusts were between 60 and 70 miles per hour. and visibility was at whiteout conditions.

>> the interstates were slowly reopening in oklahoma. ice is still a problem in ohio and in indiana where crews are trying to restore power to tens of thousands. meantime, they have a pretty rough time in australia, too. they are recovering after the most powerful cyclone of the century rampaged throughout the northeast coast. the cleanup there is beginning and the government is expressing relief because nobody was killed. in fact, a baby was actually born in one of the evacuation centers. the cyclone ripped apart homes, snapped power lines and soaked an already damaged area. they have had weeks of flooding there. all together they have caused hundreds of millions of dollars to the banana and sugar cane crops. it is officially the year of the rabbit this morning. cities all over the world are ringing in the chinese new year today. this is the scene in singapore where a huge fireworks display celebrated the lunar new year. the rabbit is believed to be one

of the happiest signs. the steelers will win the super bowl, this according to a big video game company. electronics arts in redwood city. they run a simulation of the super bowl each year on the madden football game. this year concludes that the steelers will win. ea has been doing this test since 2004. and the game has got it right all of those years but one. the company is the biggest video game maker in the world. it reported its profits wednesday, and those were disappointing. it also announced a huge stock buy-back that sent its shares up 12%. so the steelers and ea investors are big winners this morning. on wednesday we told you about accusations that google was leveling and its competitor bing is copying its search results. microsoft is offering a rebuttal this morning on tape.

>> i want co categorically say bing does not copy any competitor full stop. we do use click-stream data, data that customers across the world have opted in to send to microsoft to help us improve your products. >> while click-screen data is a technical term that basically means behind the scenes the data is sent back to microsoft, that's what they are claiming. last night on the stephen colbert report he said this is the first time anyone has been busted on their search history for anything but porn. 6:18 right now. thank you very much. certain giants fans got a chance to grab tickets before they go on sale to the public. visa is offering its card holders an early chance to buy regular season tickets online. all purchases have to be made with a three sa card, but you better hurry. the deal ends this friday. the credit card company is an

official sponsor of the giants. >> is it too early to get football tickets? yes, i guess not. it is the day after christmas for football coaches all over the country, including for san jose coach mcintyre. yesterday was national letter of intent day. that's when all the high school kids that you have been recruiting sign the letter to say i'm going to play for your school. that being said, do you like the guys you got? >> we love them. it was a long process. it is a year-round process. really excited about them. we got a young man out here locally, tony popavich. we have a great receiver from the inland empire. we have a great quarterback from dorsey high school we are excited about. we are excited about all 23 we signed. >> talk about the recruiting thing. it is a year-round thing. coaches actually start developing relationships with high school players back when they are juniors in high school and you follow kids along to see if they are going to fit with

your program? >> yes, you recruit the school. as you go to games and watch them and tapes, you notice them as a sophomore and junior. you make contact with them. you make a phone call in may of their union jeer junior year. then you start recruiting them. >> it is like being in jail, you get one phone call. it better be a good phone call. >> exactly. there are a lot of different rules. they can come on the campus a lot. we can meet them there. you do a lot of it through the high school coaches and develop relationships with them and their parents. yeah, it is definitely a recruiting process that goes year-round. >> the good news for a lot of kids is this is a way to pay for their education. but there's also a lot of pressure with it. especially when you get the so-called five-star guys that everybody is watching. and then rumors get started about illegal recruiting or picking one school over another. we had a case where a player was accused of paying off his mom, that was the only reason. there's a lot of pressure on the kids and the coaches. >> there's a lot of pressure on

these young men from outside pressure, family pressure, boother booster pressure. the young men are making decisions to stick with their school for four years. then it also sticks with them for a lifetime. if you are an ex-colorado player, you are proud of it. so it is a decision you are making not only for right now, but you are also wanting to be proud of it in the future. >> as our guys like to say, you are a former player but you are never above. you are family for life. what are you predictions for the super bowl before you go? >> i think since they are playing inside the weather won't be a big factor. the quarterback for green bay is hot right now, i think they will score more points. >> the steelers have been there a lot. >> the steelers have one of the best kickers in the world. >> all right, we have to go. time to check in with kris key

christina. we can't wait to see the new recruits on the field, go spartans. 45 degrees in oakland. we are looking good across the bay area. take a look at this little high cloud cover passing through yesterday. this morning we are not going to see a lot of cloud cover throughout the day today. it is going to be mostly clear out there. and temperatures are going to climb once that sun comes up. and it is coming up right now. the official sunrise for most of the bay area is at 7:15 this time of the year. later on today, los gatos will be practicing today with 70-degree temperatures. you can't beat that. the players must enjoy what's happening out there right now in terms of our weather forecast. it is only going to get warmer getting closer to super bowl sunday. 72 degrees is the forecasted high. you know what, guys? it is time to start thinking about valentine's day. and we have something we would like to do to encourage you to think about valentine's day. two lucky couples will win free lodging, fine dining and a free

wine dining experience. if you think that this sounds interesting, something you may be up for, log on to nbcbayarea.com. click on the contest button. we would love to send you and your significant other. i think the traffic tonight will be at the hp pavilion, right, mike? yes, that's right. let's go out there to check out walnut creek. we have an accident to report on southbound 680 just past tree boulevard. we have reports of an overturned vehicle. no major injuries, but this is blocking one or two lanes heading south down to the walnut creek interchange. expect slowing as traffic builds out of concord. certainly slowing near highway 4. slowing for 580 in wine country, livermore, the valley. an 18-minute drive out of the altamonte pass. slow through livermore as you approach 680 and the sunol grade. here's a live shot of sunol. the volume of traffic is heading through the south bay. we are building in volume there.

6:23 right now. accused kidnapper phillip garrido will be in court today. find out what attorneys hope to find out coming up. and this weekend marks the 100th anniversary of president reagan's birth. see how they plan to celebrate ihp

6:26 right now. president ronald reagan would have been 100 years old on sunday. but the celebration in the illinois town he spent his earlier years in all starts tomorrow. reagan was born in a town called tempico. the party dinner starts tomorrow night. a keynote speaker will be house speaker newt gingrich. but the centennial is being celebrated in two other towns where he grew up and went to college. the governor eventually moved to california in 1937. wikileaks has the nomination for the nobel peace prize.

he cited the contribution to democracy and freedom of speech worldwide. wikileaks publishes documents alleging government misconduct. critic says it puts national security in danger but others say it protects the whistleblowers and brings corruption to light. bay area police are worried there could be more victims after a man is accused of molesting children at an after school program. we have details coming up. and b.a.r.t. says it will put more officers on trains thanks to federal funding. find out why they got it coming up in a live report. and a bay area woman with friends and family in egypt is talking to nbc bay area this morning. hear from r lireve next. ve

good morning. i'm christie smith.

if you ride b.a.r.t. you are going the see big changes this morning. more security on this train. we'll explain why and how it is paid for coming up. a live look outside from the south bay this morning. a cold, crisp morning, but things are going to warm up nicely. it is thursday, february 3rd, "today in the bay." >> and good morning, everybody. thank you for joining us. i'm brent cannon. >> i'm laura garcia-cannon. christina has a look at our hour-by-hour forecast. good morning to you. it is chillier than we were at this time yesterday. we actually have 30s, low 30s, across the board in gilroy. 36 degrees in livermore. we are at 34 in napa. we are starting out very cold. that sun will be out in just an hour. and it is going to warm things up really, really nicely for us. 70 degrees in oakland. 68 in redwood city. 70 degrees in los gatos.

full sunshine. i just want to let you know right now that we have very, very warm conditions expected for monday, sunday and saturday. record-breaking levels. this is the warmest temperature day we'll see in the next few days. laura, back to you. thank you very much. yet another rough night turning into day in cairo this morning. the egyptian military is rounding up journalists for their own protection after coming under attack of supporting president mubarak. an associated press reporter saw a group of journalists detained on the streets near tahrir square are so much activity is happening. an elderly american woman is trapped in her apartment near the square this morning. she tales tells nbc's brian williams she was armed with a knife when protestors came to her door. >> when he broke the glass he reached his hand in and was attempting to take the key out

of my door so he could get in. >> one of the woman's friends here in the bay area has been up all night worried about her safety. >> she is sharing a little bit of her story with us this morning. "today in the bay's" marla tellez is with her in hayward this morning. >> reporter: good morning to both of you this morning. it is hard enough, certainly, to watch the violence erupt and unfold on television. so imagine having somebody you know and love in the midst of it. well, ellen feeney has been up all night. you have two people close to you, a daughter, and you know mary thornberry very well. you have known her for 15 years. you spoke to her on the phone this morning. what did she tell you? >> well, she said that she is there in her apartment. the glass panels on the door have been braken, broken. 12 or 13 men have been banging on the door all night.

they take little rests but keep putting their arms and heads through the panel of the door. as we mentioned before, and as she told brian williams, she has a knife and a rolling pin. >> reporter: and not a lot of food and water. we should mention she is 76 years old. >> yes, she is 76. no matter how young at heart you are, she's in there alone. and probably is aloan in the building. everyone else has fled. and she called the embassy and they really just said that they didn't have anyone to send down. and that was the end. so we have been talking, she's been talking to my daughter. and hopefully someone will be able to rescue her. >> reporter: now, as we mentioned, your daughter does live in egypt about 20 miles south of the violence, so that's good. she is in a safer environment. now, she spoke to mary via phone

not long ago. and this is what she told us this morning via skype. >> she said she didn't want anyone coming to her apartment building because there are actually people that come in the building and will sleep in the hallway. and she's on the sixth floor, but she has men coming into her -- they made a hole in her door, and they are putting their hands in there, their heads in there, asking for water or anything. she said, no, i don't have anything, leave me alone. >> reporter: now, ellen, you have really made it your mission to do what you can here thousands of miles away to help her to get out. and we also understand that nbc correspondent lester holt was there earlier today.out, t too,t with resistance and violence. he had no luck either. so we are going to be monitoring the situation. >> yes,. quiuite w wearyry b be as i said, she is alone.

and she is running.#.#.#.#;=;=;% anyone would be terrified in the circumstances. so i'm hoping that./ plea.3 and group that can go in and rescue her. >> reporter: we hope so, too. thank you, ellen, for allowing us to be in your home this morning. >> thank you for giving me the opportunity to bring mary's name back to the forefront. thank you. >> reporter: certainly. live in hayward this morning, marla tellez, "today in the bay." thank you, marla. a bay area childcare worker is accused of molesting five little girls he was supposed to be watching. and police are afraid there could be more victims. officers arrested 25-year-old keith woodhouse. he has no criminal record. in fact, he passed a background check before starting work at an after school day care at trace elementary school in san jose. he has worked at the center since august. woodhouse is accused of molesting five girls all under

the age of 10. parents and neighbors say they are stunned by the arrest. >> you could be standing next to someone who you think is the greatest person in the world and yet you don't know. >> woodhouse has apparently volunteered as a camp counselor and was with youth min cities in los ang lels. officers are concerned there are more victims. they are managed by a private company, not the unified school district. they sent letters to parents of approximately 60 students. the trial for phillip garrido can move forward today if lawyers on both sides agree he's mentally competent to stand trial. phillip garrido and his wife fan cy face charges of kidnapping jaycee duke dugard. if lawyers can't reach an agreement, the competency hearing will be felt february

28. you can see more b.a.r.t. officers on the trains today. kris spooe smith is live with where the extra money is coming from other than uncle sam. >> reporter: good morning to you, laura. b.a.r.t. officers patrol a lot of ground. they patrol the parking lots, they patrol the stations and the trains. but these new officers, this new team we are talking about, they are strictly for patrolling the trains and the platforms. they are out this morning, and we have new video. we just took a ride with them. they are called the critical asset patrol team made up of eight officers. they are focusing on counter terrorism on sensitive areas, like the tube and berkeley hills. and the interesting note for riders is they are not paid for with money from tickets. instead, b.a.r.t. received federal grants for $3.6 million. and that will cover the salaries

and specialized training for three years. the funds can be renewed. b.a.r.t. got the grant from the transportation security administration because they have some of the most sensitive areas. so right now they look like regular b.a.r.t. officer just walking around, but soon they'll have more specific uniforms with the word "police" written in large bold letters on the back. you may have already seen them out and about. they actually started their patrols back on january 10th. that's the latest from here, reporting live in oakland, christie smith, "today in the bay." a youth court in the east bay responsible for getting hundreds of teenagers a second chance is on the verge of closing its doors. money is running out for the mccullum youth court of alameda. it could shut down in the next four to six months. the nonprofit lost half its budget when a federal graduate was canceled last year. it would mean bad news for 400 children whose cases have yet to be heard. 10% of mccullums kids re-offend

compared to 80% of youth who go through the juvenile justice system. the time is 6:38. a bay area family cashed in on an nbc game show. we'll talk to them live coming up. president obama is talking about violence in egypt. we'll talk about this live report coming up. the next, you start one feeling bit off.fine. the moment you feel run down or achy, nip flu-like symptoms in the bud, with oscillococcinum.

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good morning to you. it is a crisp, clear morning. you'll need the jacket, but something you can peel off later on today as temperatures approach 70 degrees in los gatos. 70 in oakland. and 70 degrees in san jose. san francisco is looking towards 65. now, we haven't had a lot of snowfall lately, but we still want to get you up to speed with what's happening on mammoth mountain. we bring you jody lynch. >> hi, good morning, christina. coming to you live with the report from mammoth mountain here in california where we are enjoying a 9 to 15 base of snow. that fell on top of the 300 inches we had this week. conditions here at mammoth are fantastic. we have a lot of great stuff on tap this weekend, including fun super bowl parties. did you know verizon just

launched $29 flights from san jose. it is easy to get here to mammoth. >> even i can afford that. we are going to have more on what's to come in our forecast. i can tell you we'll have a warm up to super bowl sunday. we'll be right back after this.

welcome back, everyone. 6:45 right now. increased funding for its schools, the alameda school board is turning so to voters for help. they will hold a special election to vote on a tax that could cost property tax owners an extra $180 a year. it would raise about $3 million a year to preserve after school

activities and smaller class sizes. alameda voters can cast mail-in ballots from april 4th through may 3rd. the measure needs a two-thirds majority to pass. schools in pleasanton are asking voters to vote on a parcel tax for the second time in two years. the four-year tax calls for $98 per parcel of land. the mail-in election there will be held on may 3rd. city school districts have had to cut $20 million from the $110 million budget during the past three school years. as a result, 68 teachers have lost their jobs. oakland firefighters are doing what they can to try to help a young girl who they saved from a deadly fire. they are trying to help her once again. 7-year-old allison bee is the only survivor of the fire that killed her mother, sister and neighbor. oakland firefighters are establishing a fund to raise money for allison. she is currently with a foster family. if you want to donate, you can find the information on your screen here. i believe we'll have that at

www.ofrandomacts.org. you click on donate. there's the website for you. click on donate now. >> i hope they can help her out. we'll move from the cool temperatures of the morning to a glorious warm up. we'll go to christina. >> a glorious warm up to happen just in time for the weekend. we are so close now. 40 degrees in san jose. 40 in santa cruz. 43 degrees in san mateo. much cooler in the outlying agricultural areas at 32 degrees in gilroy. 34 up in santa rosa. heading throughout this afternoon we'll warm up really nicely under full sunshine. 70 degrees today in oakland. 70 in los gatos. 67 degrees in santa cruz. the warming trend continues into this weekend. it looks like as we head through this sunday, santa rosa, your forecasted high for sunday is 78 degrees. 72 in the south and east bay. and more like 67/68 degrees in san francisco heading into this weekend. so it is one of those weekends

that you might want to bring that big screen tv outside to enjoy the game because who knows what's going to happen next year. we'll probably be foggy and rainy as we are traditionally used to in february around here. something you probably wanted to do because of the nice weather is go up to wine country. two lucky couples get free lodging, fine dining and a private wine tasting. if you would like to be part of this, log on to nbcbayarea.com. click on the contest button. we'll announce the winner next week. always a winner in the nbc morning news department is mike inouye with breaking news all the time. i do. we have some more updates through the san francisco area. we'll take you right out there. here's video taken a few minutes ago. the reason why westbound market street is closed is because of an apartment fire. crews are still on the scene. no major injuries reported as a result of this fire, but it is contained. the injuries to your morning commute are significant. there's the video of all the slowing. it is contained at the scene

south of market. here are the maps, westbound market is closed right at the intersection where it meets with castro street and 17th. those are major roadways. this is going to be a problem for westbound and eastbound traffic coming through the intersection. if you are using the muni line heading underground, that won't be affected. just surface traffic going on there. we are watching the surface roadways, be sow but so far 101 is not affected. the bay bridge toll plaza is slow as well as the backup slowing because of the metering lights just turned on. we'll end with this shot. back to the desk. 6:49 right now. new this morning, for many people in the bay area, it has been a sleepless night waiting for word from loved ones trapped in cairo. one elderly woman is stuck inside her apartment armed only with a knife and a rolling pin. she shared her ordeal with brian williams last night. her friend lives in the bay area this morning. she is sharing her story with marla tellez who is joining us live in hayward.

marla? >> reporter: good morning to you, laura. yes, we are live at ellen feeney's home in hayward. she is a very close friend to mary thornberry who spoke to brian williams last night. she's stuck in her small apartment in tahrir square in cairo where all the violence is happening. and you spoke to her earlier this morning. she had what to say? >> i did speak to her. and she has been in the apartment for six or seven days straight. she's probably the only person left in the building. she lives on the sixth floor. they have broken all the panels in the door. 12 or 13 men are trying to get in. they are putting their heads through and their arms through. she has a little knife. and she said she has a rolling pin. and she's very defenseless at the moment. >> reporter: 76 years old. and in pretty good health, but you can only have so much food

and water. this is something you can't prepare for. >> no one was prepared for this. no one. it is not in the nature of egyptian people to be like this. but seeing that they have been living under the system that they have been, it is just the perfect storm. >> reporter: i know she's keeping good spirits to remain strong. do you think -- has she expressed her fight to you? >> she's expressed it to me. my daughter is speaking to her. my daughter who also lives in egypt. and she's very cautious about saying anything that would fighten katherine because my daughter is in the same situation, but she is outside the city. >> reporter: so your daughter for all intensive purposes is a little safer than the situation that poor mary is in the midst of right now? >> she is a little bit safer, but many of her friends who have gone down to the square have been beaten up.

and their medical equipment and everything have been confiscated from them. >> reporter: of course, we were just seeing a live picture from the square that is certainly active. it is about 4:30 in the afternoon if i'm not mistaken or close to 5:00 p.m. right now. hopefully we can get in touch with mary. we wish her the best, right? she's going to be talking to meredith vieira coming up on the "today" show this morning. so we can look for that and see how she is at this point in time. for now, we are live in hayward this morning, marla tellez for "today in the bay." some pretty violent pictures in the live pictures coming from egypt this morning. thank you. >> as we see that violence continuing and heating up from time to time, the white house is in a difficult spot this morning. the u.s. diplomats now have to call on a long-time allie to step down immediately. tracie potts is live in washington covering the very latest from there. >> reporter: good morning. they haven't used the words step down immediately, but what the white house has said is the time

for transition is now. not september when president mubarak says he won't run for re-election. in fact, this morning at the national prayer breakfast president obama talked about praying for the situation, the violence that's going on there and that egypt's government will heed the voices of those anti-government protestors that we are now seeing in some of these live pictures coming in from central cairo. again today, more violent crashes, not nearly to the degree of what we saw last night, but certainly a day where violence seems to be escalating. the prime minister has now issued an apology for the pro-mubarak supporters crashing into the square yesterday saying they will investigate and hold responsible anyone who was involved in the five deaths and more than 830 who were wounded. the opposition now saying there will be no talks. this is new this morning, no talks until mubarak steps down. and just within the last hour or so, we learned that the top

prosecutor in cairo has frozen the accounts of former foreign ministers and issued a travel ban so that they cannot get out of the country. bottom line, this whole situation seems to be escalating as more americans try to get out on what could be the last chartered planes out later today. >> thank you, tracie. >> we are still watching that situation ever evolving. we'll update you throughout the day. turning to business news, today is the first day you can preorder the verizon iphone. >> yes, scott mcgrew is here. you are not going? >> i'm sticking with the blackberry. if you are a verizon customer, you can do that today. the verizon website started g p our time. it has been going real well. this is for current verz verizon customers. if you are not a customer you have to wait until wednesday. either way, you don't get the phone until february 10th. so there you go. checking the verizon stock, it is up 8 cents, a quarter percent

to $6.23. a quiet day on wall street. we are watching cisco systems higher, but really mixed. we have fairly good news on weekly jobless claims. the dow industrial is down 14 points. laura, tomorrow we get the major job numbers. those are the ones out of the labor department as far as unemployment rates, et cetera, go. those are coming at 5:30 our time. we look forward to that. thank you very much. the glen family is waking up richer this morning thanks to the nbc show "minute to win it." "today in the bay's" bob redell is with them. bob, you are not asking them to buy you breakfast, right? >> reporter: no. maybe they can pay more my mortgage, we'll see. they are $500,000 richer. this is the glenn family. julie, collin, holly, drew, glenn and brad. congratulations. those were the kids who did the competition, which was kind of a

new thing for the tv show. if you haven't seen the show, it is basically household games to play with household items. brad, which was the hardest game you played? >> probably super coin. >> what was the october of that? >> you have a coin and there's a five-gallon jug 15 feet away. you have to pass the coin into the jug. >> reporter: were you able to pull it off? >> no. >> reporter: you did make history because you were only the second competitors to win the half million? >> that's correct. after the show they were able to show us a 10-year-old that was the first to compete in the super coin for the million dollars. and that we were the only kid family to ever be on the show and then to be able to compete for a million dollars. >> reporter: you got the half

million dollars quickly. what are you going to do with the money? or do the kids get to decide? >> we are going to college and have some spending money. >> buy a krunger crimper. >> reporter: that would be the first thing on my list, too. half a million dollars, not bad. >> i'm impressed. they are going to buy a couple cars and an ipad. >> they can buy more later. this morning the "today" show is coming up next. they are live in cairo with breaking news on the unrest there. of course, we'll have a local news update coming up in a half hour. have a great morning. thank you for joining us. california should be proud. we were the first to ban smoking on airplanes. the first to have smoke-free bars and restaurants.

all while saving over $86 billion in health care costs... and over a million lives. we've done a good job. but even if you were born today, you'd still grow up in a world where tobacco kills more people... than aids, drugs, alcohol, murder and car crashes... combined. we have a lot more work to do.