thank you for joining us. i'm laura garcia-cannon. >> and i'm brent cannon. it is straight up 5:00. we want to start with christina loren taking a look at your forecast. >> happy valentine's day to both of you. we are looking good right now with a little bit of shower activity coming down. and this is the shower activity we are expecting for today. the bulk of the moisture from the first system is coming through as we speak. as i do zoom in here we have an area of clearing in san francisco now, but a good amount of rain came through. i would say a quarter inch of precip over the past hour. we do want to take it easy out there with slick conditions to contend with this morning. as you can see behind that we do have some clearing with on and off scattered showers throughout the day today. but the first line has come through. we have more rain on the way tomorrow night into wednesday. a much stronger system will approach the bay area. that's going to drop our snow levels as well. we'll let you know what to count on in the weather department all week long coming up. back to you. thank you, christina. same sex couples all around the country plan to mark valentine's

day today by requesting marriage licenses at their local county clerk's office. they there they will have a march and rally today in front of the contra costa clerk's office on escobar street in martinez. the event is organized by a group called marriage quality usa. they say the lack of marriage equality for same sex couples harms and impacts those families. organizers hope rallies like today's will bring back same sex marriage in california. another push for same sex rights in downtown san francisco this morning. one organization is going to court for the state worker who is seek domestic partner benefits. house benefits were stripped in 2009 when jan brewer took away health insurance coverage for domestic partners. the company is suing now. orgts arguments begin at 9:00 this morning.

officers will be handing out tickets and keeping a close watch in and around school zones this morning. it is part of operation safe passage. the program runs three times a year. police will focus on speeding, seat belts, cars stopping for school buses and cell phone or texting while driving. the program runs through the end of the week. two bay area assemblymen will announce landmark legislation in san francisco this morning designed to protect the dwindling shark population. it could end the state's contribution to the shark fin trade. assembly member paul fong and jared huffman are sponsoring the bill. fong says stricter laws are needed. shark fin soup is highly popular, and the number of finless sharks then thrown back into the ocean to die is on the rise. supporters of the bill say the sharks help maintain the balance of the marine life in our ocean. meantime, state senator

heland of san francisco is joining dozens of restaurants to oppose the shark protection bill even though he calls for greater conservation efforts he will say at a news conference this morning that the proposed law is the wrong approach. he also say that is the legislation is unfair and is an attack on the asian culture and cuisine. 5:03 right now. another bay area city will take on the issue of plastic bags today. a daly city councilman will ban single-use plastic bags from large stores in the city. cleanup and disposal of the bags costs millions of dollars. as of now 26 cities and counties in california have banned plastic bags. low-income children and their families may soon get a free ride on muni depending on what city leaders decide today. dozens of low-income parents and students will testify before the board of supervisors this afternoon. they hope to persuade muni to give free passes to some 12,000 low-income students during the

last three months of the fiscal year. in the last year the cost of a youth fast pass has doubled going from $10 to $20. a bay area institution is helping couples celebrate valentine's day for more than half a century. the san francisco flower mart has been providing flowers from all over the world. bob redell is live in san francisco with more details. i like orchids and roses too. >> reporter: brent, give me your credit card number and i'll get it taken care of. >> all right. >> reporter: the flower mart is a wholesale of markets, not a place to come in as a customer. here are roses that this florist here has. they are roses they are sending south to san jose just in time for valentine's day. you will notice that this place isn't that hustling and bustling as you expect on valentine's day because a lot of the orders went out last week because the florists need to have their product on the shelves.

ron, you are saying you got in at 8:30 thursday night, six hours of just wrapping flowers and keeping yourself busy for valentine ice. i'm curious how is this year compared to year's past? >> pretty much is same. it is always a busy day. you are not very busy the week before, and the week after you are not too busy, but three normal weeks is probably the same thing. >> reporter: i just want to throw out a number for you. the national retail federation says the average man spends $116 this year. that's up 10% to 13% from last year. do you get that sense being in the flower business that people are spending more this year? >> well, the customer is not spending any more. i don't think my wife is spending $116 either. >> reporter: i don't know if she is watching, she is probably still in bed. ron, happy valentine's day to you. brent and laura, this is open table, a restaurant company, who

did a survey last month to find that 90% of people in the bay area plan to celebrate valentine's day in a restaurant. that's up significantly from last year by 63%. reporting live in san francisco, bob redell, "today in the bay." >> we'll certainly help out the economy, good deal. and perhaps relationships as well. we want to check in with christina who has her valentine's red on this morning. >> i do. i'm wondering why the cannons are in blue this morning. we'll find out later. maybe it has to do with a valentine's gift. we are looking good this morning across the board with showers coming down in the bay area. they are spreading from the north bay to the south bay. and san francisco just had a little bit of an area of clearing. we are going to start to see clearing heading throughout the next couple of hours. the showers are pushing off to the east, and this is the first roupd round of rain we are expecting this week. heading throughout the remainder of the day, a few showers will

push offshore. you can see the line pretty solid here and then it breaks apart. heading throughout the next couple of hours that will be the case. the showers will continue to break apart. we'll see showers at least until noon today. 53 degrees in oakland. 51 in san mateo. 51 degrees in santa cruz. turning over to the upper 50s, we are not going to warm up all that much today. and that's because we have overcast conditions and cold air moving in behind that front. 59 in san rafael. 59 in los gatos. 59 degrees in livermore. your extended outlook shows heading into tomorrow, 58 degrees. windy conditions. more showers on the wa low snow levels by wednesday into thursday. snow levels will drop to 4,000 feet. 2,000 foot levels friday into saturday. more on this coming up. right now we want to get you to work on time with mike inouye. good morning. we'll take you to the nice shot of the golden gate bridge. just in the distance the crew is clearing having removed the copes from the north bay. the rain is also coming through

the east bay. the antioch bridge here for folks coming off the brim, a nice, easy drive. the construction is clearing over the next couple of minutes for the westbound direction. no issues near walnut creek. highway 24 is a smooth drive. the maze is looking really good right now as well. the travel times towards the bay bridge toll plaza, a nice easy drive. we had the overnight wind advisory issued there. 880 at the bottom of the screen is moving well at the bottom of the screen. the camera is shaking as well. look at the lights there, the windshield wipers need to get moving so you can see the roads clearly. further south the san mateo bridge just got the wind advisory after 4:00 this morning. the camera is shaking through. you can see the water on the windshields as well. the wet roads are not heavy to wash the oil off the roads, so it will be extra slip. be extra careful out there.

a few local schools are looking if for your help. we'll show you how to save some school programs by shopping at your favorite stores. and the president introduces his new budget to congress today. a look at how much the president is planning to spend. plus, ellen degeneres helps a bay area man with his bay area wish. we'll show you what happens coming up. and a live look outside at the golden gate bridge this morning. rain coming down, and rain in the forecast this week. how much? when? where? we'll check it all out. it is 5:09 right now. switching to progressive could mean hundreds more in your wallet year after year. feed me! saving you money -- now, that's progressive. call or click today.

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good morning, everybody. the time is 5:13. a live look outside at the bay bridge, a little bit chilly, but that's okay. it is valentine's day. stay cozy with the one you love. a few facts this morning, legend has it that st. valentine sent the first valentine to a young woman visiting him in prison. and the american greeting card

association estimates 1 billion valentines will be sent this year and 85% are purchased by women. 5:12 right now. a sense of normalcy is returning to cairo, egypt, this morning. you can see traffic slowly making its way to the capital. military ordered the last protesters out of tahrir square after a nearly month-long demonstration there with so many people. they suspended the conty tugs and dissolved the parliament promises new elections in six months. elizabeth taylor is in the hospital this morning and will likely be there for another few days. taylor is in the cedar sinai medical center in los angeles being treated for congestive heart disease. the 78-year-old is reportedly well enough to see family and friends but not well enough to be released. taylor has lived with the congestive heart disease condition since 2004. president obama is going to hand over his 2012 budget

proposal to congress today but republicans say it does not go far enough. >> our job is to focus on spending. we are spending too much money here in washington. the president is going to outline the new budget, spend too much, bottles too much and taxes too much. and the president wants to talk about winning the future, this isn't winning the future, it is spending the future. >> that is house speaker john boehner on "meet the press" yesterday. he told david gregory unless the nation's up employment rate is significantly lower in 2012 the president will have a hard time getting re-elected. he says he takes the president at his word but it is not his job to tell people what to think. in a half hour we'll have a live report on washington from what the president's budget will contain. meantime, many will find out how much money they will have to spend today in the bay. >> scott mcgrew is particularly interested. >> reporter: all the push on

president obama is to spend less but the opposite is true when it comes to nasa. the last time the president released a budget for nasa he was criticized for cutting funds to man space travel. our bay area portion of nasa will get its first look at how much money it is getting today. it will hold a press conference we with details later this morning. meanwhile, ames has gotten lots of specializations including man-spaced research, but lately it has been the keszler missions that are the feter in the helmet. hundreds of other planets have recently been found in other solar systems. >> one of the strategic mistakes of this regime was this. >> the egyptian e merged as a central figure in the country's resolution. he told marry smith last night

that google worked hard to release him from prison and twitter and facebook were central to the success of the protests. this morning the u.s. state department says it started its first twitter in the language spoken in iran. thank you very much, scott. it is 5:15 right now. buying something this valentine's day could help your local school. well, at least in cupertino. the city is kicking off great schools week. more than 120 businesses in the city have promised to donate a percentage of their daily or weekly sales to the cupertino union school district. the money will be used to offset the recent education funding cuts. great school weekend on friday for participating businesses. you can visit the site on the screen. i don't see it. we'll find it. all right. the time is 5:16. we want to check in with christina to get the latest on the valentine's forecast. >> good morning to you. well, if you wanted to get your valentine a car wash for valentine's day, you probably

want to revisit the man plans. we are seeing more rainfall come down the california coast. heading throughout the next couple of hours the rain will start to deteriorate. heading through tonight we'll see clearing. it looks good for the evening valentine's plans. i would say the cutoff point for showers will be 3:00 and 5:00 p.m. we are seeing the bulk of the moisture come through the bay area. any showers are already starting to fall apart, so we have a pretty solid line. that line pushed onshore and lot lost a lot of energy. the showers are coming down near san jose and antioch right now. it will get better throughout the next few hours. it is a relatively mild morning. you won't need the heavy jacket. 53 in hayward and san jose. but cold air is on the way to the bay area. so we are only going to be able to climb in temperature by about 5 to 8 additional degrees heading throughout the day. 59 in redwood city. 59 in los gatos. 60 in oakland.

showers coming down for the first part of the day, clearing by the late part of this afternoon into this evening. but we are talking about rain each and every day this week. and as we head through tomorrow a more potent system coming through. it looks like late tomorrow into wednesday, breezy and rainy conditions. we could pick up to an inch of rain in the south bay even. so this system is coming on the way and has a very strong moisture content. you want to keep that in mind, really wet tuesday into wednesday. thursday, keeping rain in the mix. friday, low snow levels, down to 2,000 feet. and that means because it is going to be so cold after we pick up all the additional moisture that you need to protect those plants because we do have the threat of a freeze in the days to come. we'll talk more about that as we progress through the week. right now we'll send it back to you. thank you very much. >> the time is 5:18. mike is coming up with what you need to know about your morning commute. >> we'll look at that, plus the

cities that ranked the most romantic in the u.s. we'll find out if any bay area cities made the list. and getting ready to play ball, spring training is finally here. we are going to tell you what is happening. the giants and a's camps will have lives coming up. [ female announcer ] most women in america

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5:21 and coming up on 5:22. here's a look over my shoulder at the san mateo bridge. we see the camera shaking a bit. a wind advisory issued after 4:00 for the san mateo bridge, but traffic is moving smoothly here. the bay bridge here and the maze, the approach, you can see green chiclets. speeds are above 55. a smooth drive with wet conditions. and the winds could play a major factor. the backup has not started through the maze. here's slower speeds. the construction zone is coming off the antioch bridge. that's where you first will see the slowing off the antioch bridge and heading west near highway 4. 57 right now around hillcrest will slow down in 15 minutes there heading all the way over to love ridge. no major issues. slick roadways and the windy conditions will be an issue from cartinas and venetian bridge drivers heading to or from the north bay. i'm giving you the advisory even though chp hasn't warned us about that.

a live look at the bay bridge toll plaza and the approach, you can see the lights are low there. there's puddling at the toll plaza as well. a lighter rain this morning. that will make the roadways slick. not enough to clear the oil, so it will be extra slippery near the on and off-ramps. the glowing lights begin and the water will kick up on your windshield. make sure the windshield wipers are in good condition. and the breezy conditions will be there heading across the bridges. 101 and 280 are not seeing major issues. look at the smooth drive north. south for 101 heading down to rafael, that's where the slowdown occurs at 7:30 heading to the south bay. overall, we are looking at a nice northbound commute through the south bay out of morgan hill and goal gilroy. again, watch the mountains heading south over the summit. white, soupy conditions and slick roadways will be an issue. we are warning folks to slow it

down. it i it is monday. thank you very much. well, rumors of a newer, smaller iphone are sending mixed messages to apple lovers around the world. one message is clear, a number of credible sources say it will happen soon. among the sources the wall street journal reports the summer release of the miniature iphone. many bloggers and writers have been quick to call it the iphone nano. it will be one-third smaller than the current iphone and cost roughly $0200 without a carrier plan. the device will offer facial recognition security and a free and you are in version of the mobile me service. it could also eliminate the need for a lot of phones to carry much memory. we are also hearing two versions of the ipad are in the works. bad news for lovers in california. apparently we do not rank when it comes to the most romantic

cities in america. >> not a single california city made the top 20 list released by amazon.com. the most romantic city across the city is virginia. it is alexandria followed by knoxville, tennessee, orlando, miami and ann arbor, michigan. >> amazon looks at romance novels, relationship books, romantic comedy movies, albums sold, that kind of thing. >> some of that could signify loneliness. >> i'm thinking we are satisfied and don't need to read a romance novel. that's how i feel about it. >> me too. well, we may not be the most romantic, but one travel company says they are the sexiest. according to orbitz.com san francisco came in at number one, followed by las vegas and new

york city. the bay area couple is getting an official valentine's present from ellen degeneres. >> if you would do me the honor in front of the whole world and in front of ellen -- will you marry me? >> of course! >> yeah, a man proposed to his girlfriend on the "ellen" show. he explained to degeneres why she should allow him to propose on the air. she was touched and said okay. it will be part of the valentine's episode and she has a special wedding gift for the couple. she is sending them to hawaii for their honeymoon.

>> you can see the "ellen" episode today at 4:00 right here on nbc bay area. that was fun. 5:27. bachelor wrap. a major movie finishes shooting this week with an explosionive end at a well-known bay area landmark. plus, the grammy after party is still going strong. a few bay artists are celebrating this morning. we'll tell you how coming up. new developments in the patterson amber alert. what sheriff's deputies found in the search for the alleged kidnapper. hundreds more in your wallet year after year. feed me! saving you money -- now, that's progressive. call or click today. [ female announcer ] starbucks via is planted the same... ♪ ...harvested the same... ♪ ...and roasted the same as our other premium coffees.

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new this morning, fill up your wallet before you fill up your tank. the price of gas is going up again. we'll tell you where you can get the best deal this morning. . police in the east bay are looking for a serial robber. i'm christie smith. coming up, we'll tell you his face-to-face rid favorite places to hit and something unique about him. that story is coming up. plus more and more kids are turning to energy drinks to keep them going throughout the day, but a new report says those drinks could have long-lasting effects. we'll have the results coming up. a live look outside from the south bay this morning. rain in the works. it is back. christina is going to tell us where it may happen and where it is already happening. it is february 14th. this is "today in the bay."

>> and good monday morning, everybody. thank you for joining us. i'm brent cannon. >> i'm laura garcia-cannon. 5:30. let's go to meteorologist crest tina christina loren. rain is coming down in certain parts already this morning. you can see we have a big system pushing into the bay area. here's the core. you can see the counterclockwise rotation. it is going to ride just to the north of us, but it is dragging this cold front. and the cold front is pretty strong this morning. we are seeing the bulk of the moisture come through. heading through afternoon, clearing will take place. by:00 p.m., just a few light scattered showers. by 5:00 p.m. tonight, most of the activity will clear off to the east. we'll let you know what's coming up for tomorrow, another round of rain, and more with this system that's on the way. back to you guys. thank you very much. an armed robber is on the loose after striking nearly a dozen drugstores and sandwich stops in the east bay.

"today in the bay's" christie smith is live with additional details on this serial robber and who he is holding up. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, laura. this is one of the last stores that was hit here in hayward, and this guy has a familiar message. police are telling us he goes into the store, he lingers around, takes some snacks up to the counter. and when the clerk rings them up he pulls a gun from his waistband and demands money from the registers. he's been to ten drugstores and sandwich shops all along interstate 80 and 880. the corp der there from fremont to san leandro, oakland and berkeley. there have been five stickups in 12 days. one turned violent. a 59-year-old clerk was pistol-whipped. detectives are optimistic saying the guy keeps doing this so often that he will eventually get caught, but they are concerned that the violence could escalate. witnesses have described him as an african-american man in his 20s, 5'9", he's skinny, wears a

red hoodie and a red and black baseball cap with the letter "c" on the front, perhaps they are thinking for the cincinnati reds, but what standout the most is that he has an oval-shaped birth mark on his cheek. the police certainly are trying to get the information out to the public. and it doesn't look like he has a specific time. he will hit in the afternoon all the way to the early evening. reporting live in hayward, christie smith for "today in the bay." let's hope they catch him soon. thank you. >> the coroner in santa slaus county is working to identify a body found in the delta men doeta canal over the weekend. they believe it would be the man who took 4-year-old juliani

cardenas. his body was found on february 1st in the canal. $20,000 was spent to try to clean up 17 tons of trash. the city also paid overtime for other departments and repairing damaged vehicles. they have agreed to pay for security inside the games but not outside the giants games. and the giants will get back to work today. pitchers and catchers report to arizona for spring training this morning. the first real workouts are expected tomorrow. and the first full workout is slated for saturday. a lot more media will be on hand this year compared to last year. showtime cameras will be rolling for the giants series, set to air on a cable network. as for the a's, they will start camp tomorrow and play at phoenix municipal stadium not too far down the road.

san francisco is going to tinseltown this month. some streets were shut down for the filming. producers were shooting scenes inside candlestick park. the movie stars matt damon and jude law. it is a movie about a pandemic outbreak. the production will also start filming in later this month near san francisco. prices at the pump are going higher and higher. public transportation is also getting more and more expensive, so people have fewer options. marla tellez has a look at the prices for us. >> reporter: good morning, brent. it is beginning to look like a no-win situation. we are at the 76 station right at the corner of brokaw and first near the san jose airport. and if you stop by to see us this morning to fill up, you are going to be paying $3.59 as the sign says behind me for regular

all the way up to $3.89 for a gallon of premium. the average right now for san jose is $3.45 a gallon. that is 52 cents more than one year ago. the national average is $3.12. welsh guess what? we could be paying the dreaded $4 a gallon as soon as april. this is according to gas analysts at gasbuddy.com. the recent turmoil in the middle east is startly partly to blame. also, as i reported a few weeks ago, the valero refinery is closed for maintenance and other refineries in the bay area are also scheduled to temporarily close for similar prompts. that only drives up the price at the pump. here's a catch 22. if you are thinking about ditching the car and hopping on caltrain, for instance, to save some money, that may not be a good option because train officials are not sure about the train's future, how they are going to continue operating the

86 weekday trains while facing a $30 million shortfall. so tonight there is a community meeting here in san jose at city hall at 7:00 to come up with a solution. if they do not, the worst case scenarios, almost half the trains would stop running, seven stations would shut down altogether. fares would increase, and no weekend service at all. no, all this is bad news for the 42,000 people who rely on caltrain every day during the week. again, if you would like to attend that public meeting for caltrain, that is happening tonight at 7:00 at san jose city hall. in the meantime, if you are going to need to fill up, get ready to pay the pretty penny. for a look at the cheapest prices around the bay area, i know laura has good information for you this morning. that's coming up right now. >> you are right, my dear friend, marla. we actually checked gasbuddy this morning to help you fry to find the cheapest gas in the bay area. that is what we found n san jose you can find gas for

$3.28 at the arco on the almaden expressway, the cal gas and moe's stop on mckey road. they are selling gas for $3.29 a gallon. in the east bay the cheapest gas will be in concord, $3.25 at the costco on monument boulevard. $3.27 on monument at the arco. gas at the valero in el sobrante for $3.28. the arco on whipple avenue, valero on whipple avenue and the costco on middlefield road as well. >> it is getting expensive. >> i can sit back and you can just take me. >> i was going to be the one to sit back. that's not a good idea. i never got one of the

two-seater bikes because i knew i would turn around to see her just lounging and me doing all the work. >> now we need a five-seater. you need to come up with something pretty nice for our laura garcia-cannon. we have some showers coming down out there. if you are bringing flowers to your lovers house, rethink the plans or go ahead and protect your goods because we have the rain coming down for the first part of the day. we have changes heading into the second half of the day. the showers are already breaking up. we had a nice solid line earlier. you can see deterioration happening. we are clearing behind this meaning for a second dry half of the day. that's good news as people celebrate in the evening hours. by 3:00 p.m. we expect a little scattered shower activity in fairfield, maybe santa rosa. by 5:00 p.m. all the showers

clear the area. we'll stay dry through this evening. that's good news, especially if you have something you have been wanting to wear for a while. 53 in oakland. turning over to 60 degrees. chilly all day today. grab the jacket and umbrella. we'll find out how we are doing on the roads once you hit the highway with mike inouye. over the san mateo bridge, the camera is shaking because of the rain and the wind. coming out of novato, you have slowing. look at that, 45 near 101 just past the 37 merge, the volume of traffic is starting to play a factor. slowing speeds a bit, but no big deal heading down to the richmond/san rafael bridge. continuing to the golden gate bridge, 11 minutes. we have a look at the wet roads there as well. we have slippery conditions, too. antioch all the way over to lovers lane, speeds are at 25 there. approaching the maze, no major slowing. the volume is starting to get heavy heading to the toll plaza.

we have wet roads there near the toll plaza. back to you. the time is 5:40. it is valentine's day, but some lawmakers are feeling no love for the president's new budget. we'll have a live report on how much it could cost coming up. and some people could be getting a different kind of refund this year. we'll show you how the irs is changing things up. i'm bob redell live in san francisco. find out if some florists are feeling the love this valentine's day. that story is coming up in a live report. ♪

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and a good monday morning. 5:43 right now. here's a look at the top three love songs. according to the website about.com, they like "baby i'm amazed," "your song" and "something." find us at nbc bay area morning news and let us know your favorite. give and take is how the white house is describe president obama's budget that goes before congress today. tracie potts is live in washington, d.c. republicans are show nothing love for the new budget on valentine's day. >> reporter: no, not at all, brent. they are already talking about the fact that the president didn't cut enough out of this budget. it is a $3 trillion budget. the white house says that it will reduce the deficit by just over a trillion dollars, but really that's only a quarter of what the deficit commission recommended. a lot of those cuts will come from rolling back and limiting

tax breaks for the wealthy. the white house says they will focus here on education, and there will be some additional spending in some areas where they balance that. for example, for pell grants for college students but not allowing them to use them for summer classes. the public wants to know if the president is going to attack the big four, the thing that is really making the budget grow. medicare, medicaid and defense cuts. ironically, while they look at the new budget for 2012 they have yet to decide what to do about the current fiscal year 2011. and we are already almost halfway through that. >> thank you for the update. good morning, it is 5:45. i'm brent cannon. >> i'm laura garcia-cannon. we'll get to traffic and weather in two minutes, but first the bay area institution is helping couples celebrate valentine's

day for over half a century. >> bob redell is live at the flower mart. nice flowers. >> reporter: it is not too late. they don't have a shortage of a dozen red roses. this flower mart is primarily a wholesaler. they sell to the florists where you go to buy your flowers. the rush hour was last week wednesday, thursday and friday because they had to get the product in the store in time for today. bob is here with the san francisco flower mart. does the fact that we are seeing all the roses out here, is that a good thing or a bad thing? you hope these would be in the store? >> it is not a bad thing at all. you have to remember we are dealing with a product here that is grown in the outdoors, so the timing is always a little different. they will get a later crop, that's part of it. part of it is our vendors here have to speculate on last-minute sales. that's what is going on right now. >> reporter: i'm surprised or maybe i shouldn't be surprised how business is dependent on the day that valentine's falls.

last year it was a sunday, it was president's day weekend, it was not so great because people were out of town. it is monday, people are sending flowers to their loved one at work. how big of a difference does that make? >> it does make a difference for weepgd sales. weekday sales monday through friday here in san francisco is great because you have to remember a lot of the guys want to send their flowers to their wives at the office. not from the office but at the office if they are working in the city. so traditionally we have really good sales during the week. >> reporter: can you put a number on it, are sales up 10%, 20% from last year? anecdotely speaking to your clients here? >> traditionally for weekend sales versus weekday sales, we are probably up about 20%. >> all right. bob is here at the san francisco flower mart. happy valentine's day. good to see you again. they have plenty of roses here. if you are thinking to come down to grab a dozen for $14, keep in

mind, that's the wholesale price. these are on their way now to the actual retail florists. reporting live in san francisco, bob redell, "today in the bay." >> very nice. thank you, bob. let's go to christina. your flowers are going to get water pretty i soon. >> that's right. everybody turned off their sprinkler system. it looks like we got a little bit of free rain coming down for us today. you want to turn the sprinkler system off this week. we've got a lot of rain coming down right now, but it looks like this is the bulk of the moisture. as we head throughout the next couple of days we'll continue to see rain showers. they are going to afternoon up for us tomorrow. we'll see pretty heavy rain at times tomorrow evening into wednesday morning. right now this is what we are expecting for today. the showers are pushing onshore. that solid line has broken apart. scattered showers now pushing past san francisco. san jose is getting a little precipitation. the showers will continue to deteriorate throughout the morning. by 3:00 p.m. we are talking

about a few very light showers, if anything, at that time. maybe in the north bay. by 5:00 p.m. complete clearing for your evening plans. the next round of rain is on the way for late tomorrow into wednesday. right now 53 degrees in oakland. 48 in santa rosa. and temperatures throughout the day are only going to end up in the upper 50s as a cold blast of air follows the cold front pushing in right now. 58 degrees in almaden valley. and temperatures really hovering in the 50s as we head throughout the next few days. we could see some thunder depending on how warm it gets on thursday. snow levels falling. listen to this. to 2,000 feet as we head thursday into friday. definite lay dusting of snow at least heading into the later part of the week. today in the bay is teaming up with american airlines to make you feel like a red carpet celebrity. all next week we'll give you a

secret word. secret word. once you see it go to nbcbayarea.com. click contest and fill out the form. the price is airline tickets and a hotel stay at the tribeca in new york. also the dallas international filment festival and two sets of vip packages to the winner here in san jose. that package includes two nights at the hilton, vip lunches and dinners and tickets to movie screenings. watch all next week for the word of the day and go right to the nbcbayarea.com site to win. this commercial is approved by mike inouye. back to you. that was cool. all right. let's look over here at the golden gate bridge. the wet roads is an issue this morning. right here another issue, an accident. it occurred on the roadway but is moved to the brake check area. a big visual distraction with

the ambulance on the scene. there's a lot of slowing out of the altamonte pass here. your travel times will pick up from 15 minutes over to 17 minutes very soon. that's an early start to the backup. coming through the heart of livermore you see an advantage with folks held up behind the accident scene. westbound highway 4 is a typical slowdown to love rim. speeds are down close to 20. there's a live look out there at the north bay. we'll end with the live shot of the bay bridge. flow increases there as well as the wet roads are an issue. back to you. energy drinks are the drink of choice for teenagers across the country, but they could be exposed to very dangerous side effects. the drinks have high amounts of caffeine and ingredients not tested on teens. the university of miami shows over 5500 caffeine overdoses occurred in 2007. nearly half of them were younger than 19 years of age. doctors say energy drinks can cause symptoms of overdose on

young people. >> their heart is beating faster, fluttering, palpatating. they could feel nauseous and lightheaded. >> most energy drinks contain half the caffeine in a similar size cup of coffee. but teens are drinking more than one per day. consumer advocates are plotting a new irs plan to protect some low-income taxpayers. the treasury department will deliver tax refund by debit card. it only applies to about 800,000 taxpayers this year. they will take part in a pilot program starting next week. officials estimate that 10 million taxpayers don't have bank accounts and often fall prey to high fees for cashing a check. the treasury department will mail a debit card and then they load it electronically. as soon as the return is approved taxpayers can use the money immediately. $41 million a year could be saved by not having to print so

many paper checks. >> it could help a lot of people that need to cash their checks as well. well, this is interesting at 5:52, borders books has been keeping a close eye on bankruptcy. they are right on the border, liter literally. >> they have been watching this for months. we said to spend the borders gift cards because if the store chain does ask for court protection it is possible the bankruptcy judge will consider you, the holder of the gift card, a creditor. which means you would have to stand in line with all the other creditors. you may recall what a mess customers were left with when sharper image fell apart. well, this morning the wall street journal says borders could file for bankruptcy as early as today. howard stern capturing the attention of twitter overthe weekend. his old movie "private parts" ran on television on saturday and stern who is new to twitter did sort of a live color commentary on twitter, sort of like the director's comments on

dvd. twitter has been actively pushing for television producers to do this sort of thing. stern is the big name to do it. meanwhile, we are seeing on twitter the u.s. state department is starting to use this. >> thank you very much. this year some of the music industry's lesser-known stars had a chance to shine on the biggest stage. >> this has completely changed our lives. we love you all so much. thank you. >> lady antebellum won best song of the year.

>> i will do my damndest to make a lot of great music for you. >> esperanza spalding beat out justin bieber for best new artist. so a big upset there. the bay area artist also took their share of grammy awards, local favorite neil young won best rock song for "angry wool." train won for "soul sister." and then the album "britain's orchestra" won best surround sound album. >> it is always amazing to see the outfits for the grammys. lady gaga arrived in an egg. oh, yeah. did you see any of that, christina? >> no, but that's an egg i don't want to try to crack this morning. good morning to you.

hugs and kisses, everybody. maybe you are getting your valentine breakfast ready to go. anybody who thought about ì& valuen tie may want to rethink the plans until 3:00 p.m. when the showers stop. we have some pretty good rain coming down all the way from santa rosa to san jose. light scattered showers. take a look at this. a little pocket here with a pretty good cell of red and yellow. that's an indication of heavy rain coming down just to the north of antioch. i took a close look at that cell. no thunder but we could see some thunder heading into the latter portion of this week, thursday into friday. thunder is possible. and late wednesday as well. but right now this is what it looks like for your centralen fine's day, valentine's day. by 3:00 p.m. spotty activity in the north bay. overall, nice and clear. showers are staying to the south and the east as we head through tonight. so we are looking good. more showers on the way heading through tomorrow. i think the next round of rain will be sometime around 3:00 p.m. tomorrow.

all the way throughout tuesday night and wednesday morning it looks like we'll have a really busy commute on wednesday morning. 53 degrees in oakland right now. turning over to 60 degrees with showers coming down throughout the day. we'll talk about what to expect the snow levels to do. we are expecting them to fall pretty low. we'll let you know how low we expect them to go as to when the rain will stop, but not for a while. 5:57. still a lot coming up at 6:00 this morning. mavericks is getting its own hollywood movie. find out which leading man just took a role in it. and gas prices are expected to hit about $4 in the i bay ar o cnutndn cominp un ia g live report. rocket scientists!

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$4 gas looks to be making a comeback. at the same time the bay area