new this morning, construction comes to the bay bridge. we'll find out why that could actually be a good sign. i'm bob redell with the most exclusive guest list in town. who will the president be dining with from silicon valley tonight? that answer is coming up. and what surprised so many drivers during yesterday's morning commute could happen again today. i'm marla tellez live near the santa cruz mountains with a look at today's driving conditions. that's coming up. and a live look at the golden gate bridge. it is slick out there. ed a add a little extra time. it is thursday, february 17th. this is "today in the bay." >> good morning, everybody. thank you for joining us. straight up 6:00 right now. i'm brent cannon. >> i'm laura garcia-cannon. we'll look at your hour by hour

forecast with christina. christina, you there? >> i hear crickets. >> she is probably checking the maps because we are having serious rain. you can see the green falling across the bay area. we'll check in with her in a bit. >> you could see everything from hail to lightning to all kind of things. let's go to mike to check on the commute. the rain has passed through soaking the hillsides. we had an earlier report of the tree down. they are still ork working that near highway 4. you are okay despite the slippery conditions, but just lower the speeds. keep it closer to 55 and 60. here's a slough logjam through livermore. an 18 more minute drive building through the altamonte pass. be careful coming through areas like the sunol grade coming up and down with low clouds. no major slowing into the south bay via 680. around the interchange the

slowdown has started. i covered the map there, but there's a 42 indicated just coming past 880. thank you, they are clearing that. we'll take a live look out there with the oakland camera. we have a smooth drive there as well. the camera is shaking. look at that water sheen off the roadways. things are moving pretty smoothly despite the soggy conditions. back to the desk. you are, indeed. thank you. president obama is heading west this morning for a meeting with some of silicon valley's most invadive tech titans. >> air force one is expected to touch down later on this evening at san francisco international. bob redell is live at sfo this morning with what the president is going to do while he's in town. bob, he's meeting with the heavyweights. >> reporter: it's a very short turn-around for the president. good morning to you, brent and laura. air force one arrives later this evening at sfo. san francisco's mayor ed lee will be there to greet the president. then the location is unknown where he'll meet with some of

the leaders of silicon valley. they will talk about innovation and job growth. apple's ceo steve jobs currently on a medical leave of absence will be there, mark zuckerberg, eric schmidt and jeffrey emmill recently named the head of the white house council on jobs. the president is trying to promote his $3.7 trillion budget he just announced earlier this week. this is the budget that calls for billions more for education, which the president argues will eventually create more jobs. and when you are trying to boost employment who better to meet with than the leaders of silicon valley who know a lot about private sector job growth. >> well, i think he is looking for support. i mean, these tech giants in many ways pushed him into doing the investment in solar energy and in the internet. he is now looking or the for the tech giants to back him up. sfwlr the tech giants are expected to ask the president

for help in return with requests like lower corporate taxes and a smoother process for patent approval. the leader of the california republican party is criticizing obama's visit to the bay area calling tonight's meeting a, quote, 2012 re-election campaign photo op. this is a short trip. tomorrow morning the president heads north to oregon to tour a construction site where they are building intel's newest chip fabrication plant being built as the world east most sophisticated. bob redell for "today in the bay." a big announcement regarding the bay bridge later this morning. crews will start realining some lanes on the oakland side meaning work is getting done sooner than expected. crews will release details on the series of lane realignments and detours west of the toll plaza. the entire east span of the bridge will open to traffic in both directions in 2013. christie smith will be live to

show us what's happening coming up this morning at 6:30. a massive budget deficit, possible police layoffs and skyrocketing pension costs are a few of the topics mayor chuck reed is expected to address during his state of the speech address. city leaders laid out a worst case scenario plan to deal with the budget gap. proposals include shutting off neighborhood street lights overnight and getting rid of gang-prevention programs. protests in the middle east turned violent overnight. three people are dead in bahrain. witnesses say police raided a camp full of protesters early today firing rubber bullets and tear gas at demonstrators. thousands of anti-government protesters are out of the camp now. they have been there several days. bahrain is home to the u.s. navy's fifth fleet. protestors in libya declare

today a date of rage. two people died and dozens were issued from clashes with libyan security forces yesterday. that country has been under the rule of muammar go day fee for 40 years. the convicted mastermind behind a murder for hire plot in the south bay is going to ask for a new trial today. paul garcia faces life in prison for hiring a hitman to kill the former owner of mountain charlie's saloon in los gatos. garcia bought the bar from the man seven months before he was shot to death in 2008. prosecutors say garcia was obsessed with the bartender dating the owner of the bar at the time. a new witness says drugs and not romantic jealousy were the real cause of the man's death and now requests a new trial. miguel cadese will be sentenced later this afternoon. doctors will give their

opinion on the mental state of a teenager accused of bringing bombs and weapons to school. the boy is accused of bringing a chain saw and sword to the school in august of 2009. he is pleading not guilty to charges against him by reason of insanity. doctors have determined that ushock is mentally fit to stand trial but the new doctors report that will be filed today will look at ushock's mental state at the time of the alleged crime. if ushock is found guilty the jury will use those reports to reach a verdict. a san francisco attorney is cracking down on smoke shops accused of selling crack pipes. he claims the undercover investigation found the shops selling illegal drug paraphernalia. the city is cracking down on new smoke shops. in 2009 the city prevented new shops from opening in the

ashberry neighborhood. and last year special permits became required to open new smoke shops on pollxk street. marla tellez is live in the santa cruz this morning where we have reports of lightning already this morning. marla? >> reporter: good morning, laura. it is coming down pretty good here. we are at the base of the santa cruz mountains. the lexington reservoir is right here behind us. highway 17 here. you can see the taillights making their way. so far no problems to report for the morning commute. we took the drive over the summit. drivers are dealing with very slick roads. chp has issued a fog advisory for the santa cruz mountains. and there are signs of warning for drivers with lower visibilities. the fog was already beginning to lift an hour ago. so that's better news for drivers. christina is talking about the potential for more hail today.

the national weather service says there's a slight possibility for hail, specifically in the santa cruz mountains, because it is chilly out here. during yesterday morning's commute many were hit with shock as the hail hit them. many people were taken back by it they didn't know what it was at first. >> i thought it was a fire or something. and i looked on the ground and thought, okay, this would be filled with fire. no, it was snow. >> it started getting slippery when i was driving and thought, i better slow down. >> reporter: another bizarre hailstorm hit late last night. 280 in the mill bray area and moved across the east bay and hit hayward pretty good. almost 1 2rkz 00 people bought this throughout the bay area. i'm sure pg&e croups will have their hands full again today. drive slowly because the weather is going to dictate your morning

commute. live at the lexington reservoir, marla tellez, "today in the bay." >> i noticed yesterday of pockets with bright sunshine, the rain coming down, the rainbow and the hail. >> that kind of caused it. the heat warmed up and you have a storm with convection. that's all i know. what do you need me for? we have brent cannon on the case. good morning to you, you are exactly right. all the ingredients for thunderstorms are in place once again this morning. we have warm enough conditions. we have an unsable air mass. and a lot of moisture pushing onshore with the system of low pressure. one cloud to ground strike reported so far this morning. and this is realtime. right now we are not seeing anything, but over the past hour we did see several lightning strikes cross over the bay. what you found heading throughout the day, especially once we warm up, we'll see more isolated thunderstorm activity. i do want to show you what's headed to marla tellez right now.

she looked relatively dry last time we talked to her, but we have a steady amount of streams of water coming in. 58 in almaden valley today. 55 in napa. you really want to keep your antenna up when it comes to these thunderstorms. you could be driving and then all of a sudden getting hit by hail. i do believe that the thunderstorms that are more widespread are heading into the afternoon. and i don't like to pay a lot of attention to this, but the chance for a thunderstorm is very, very light, but the storm prediction center as well as me here want you to know about the possibility for rain. more snow is on the way for the sierra as well. back to you. snow for the sierra, we have

chain advisories for highway 50 northbound and southbound. bring the chains in and pack your patience. here closer to home, a nice easy drive approaching the bay bridge. at 6:12 things are moving smoothly, but here's the incident right here. that's the commute direction for 580 westbound through oakland. the connector on eastbound traffic is being blocked by an accident that is more involved because of the slick roadways. a live look at the bay bridge toll plaza, don't drive through here too quickly because of the big puddles approaching the bay area. we have a sigalert canceled at san jose avenue. that's much better news into the city as well. we'll show you this in our next report. back to you guys. still to come on "today in the bay," another state is close to approving same sex civil unions.

details coming up. and the response to this youtube video accusing them of charging more for the same amount of brew. and good news for skiers heading to the sierra for president's day weekend. we'll take a look at how much fresh new snow they could get coming up in a live report. here's a live look outside at the bay bridge this morning. the camera is moving a bit with a little wind out there. a lot of rain is coming our way. the works. we'll keep tabs on this with christina. the next, you start one feeling bit off.fine.

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new this morning the california supreme court is going to rejoin the battle over gay marriage. and the state could change its decision on the ban against gay marriage by the end of this year. the state supreme court originally upheld the 2008 law that banned gay marriage, but in august a federal judge struck that ruling down and gave time for appeal. so supporters of the ban appealed. however, then there was legal questions on whether those supporters really had the right to make that appeal. so now there could be a hearing on that controversial decision. we could get that as early as september. meantime, hawaii may become the latest state to allow civil unions for day gay couples. the civil union will be allowed within ten business days. same sex civil unions will begin on february 1st, 2012. they will give the same rights of marriage to same sex couples without authorizing marriage

itself. california is one of several states wrangling over budget issues. the question is how to cut spending without chipping away at programs that people say are necessary. thousands of people are camped outside of wisconsin's state capital mad about a plan to strip public employees of collective bargaining powers. and rick scott put the brakes on the high-speed rail project saying even with the federal government funding two-thirds the cost was too high. >> government has become addicted to spending and we cannot continue this policy. >> governor jerry brown says if florida doesn't want the money california will take it. more on that coming up in a live report from washington at 6:45. more this morning that the fbi is going to ask for more power to see what you are doing online. scott mcgrew is here with that. >> reporter: the fbi is going dark, that's what they are calling it. the bureau says it is less and less able to peek in to see what people are doing online even

with a warrant, even in the biggest of criminal investigations. the problem is the so-called wall gardens of facebook or new enkripgs like skype calls. the fbi will launch a major push to change laws forcing tech companies to build back doors in the system through which law enforcement can pass without new owe you knowing. is it gossip or news that investors need to know? radaronline reports steve jobs has been spotted at a cancer treatment center and reports that "the national inquirer" has pictures of steve jobs walking into the center. jobs has a fundamental right to privacy but he also lead the nation's second most valuable company. indeed last week there were rue moors rumors of steve jobs in the hospital and apple stocks

fell. thank you, scott. meantime, 6:18. we want to keep an eye on the morning commute. we have been talking to mike inouye and we got the showers coming through periodically that could affect the commute. >> definitely. even if it is not raining where you are, use caution because the puddles are still hanging around. the south bay is seeing more traffic flowing. 87 is slow at 280. you can see the build up through the south bay. an accident at 280 and 85 is moving to the shoulder. this one is northbound 85 just past highway 17 where we are seeing the slowdowns happening near the interchange for 85. also south over the 17th summit towards marla tellez. it is getting really soupy out there. moving up the peninsula we'll take a live look out there to see how things are moving across from the peninsula with headlights to the east bay. another live look out there at the golden gate bridge, or that's the bay bridge, i just got note that the napa valley

had snow so they closed the highway for a portion. we have a lot happening on this radar picture. let's break it down for you this morning before you head out the front door. now hamilton getting a mixture of rain and snow and some snow at the highest peaks. same goes for the santa cruz mountains. the highest elevation is getting blowing snow this morning. lightning strikes over the past half hour for the east bay. this morning we see a heavy pocket of rain moving up to fairfield. so this is what you can count on waking up from napa to fairfield. moderate to light rain heading throughout the next 20 minutes. then we'll see a little bit of a break. more on the way. this is the heaviest rain of all the bay area. this is where it is coming down right now. dangerous conditions along the ve nooegs venetian bridge at this time. heavy downpours are coming down. take it easy out there. 54 in oakland. 55 in san jose. temperatures will be chilly throughout the day today. and my biggest concern for the

day are the possibility of the thunderstorms. we'll see more daytime heating today with a lot more instability in place overhead. so that means heading throughout this afternoon we'll see more of the isolated thunderstorms. and associated with the storms, if you get caught in one, you could find yourself underneath pretty heavy hail. pea-sized hail heading throughout this afternoon. we'll have gusty winds that could knock you around for the evening commute. take it easy out there. this is the case throughout the day today. right now i'm going to send it back to the anchors. thank you. president's day weekend should be a big one for the ski resorts. we have been talking about timing when you go up there, but it should be a pretty good weekend. >> a three-day weekend and a new layer of powder out there. brian hickey in a cold area this morning. at least we can see you. yesterday the snow was coming down on you. >> reporter: yes. did you guys say powder day weekend? >> could be. >> reporter: it is awesome up

here. a nice hot cup of coffee sound good. here in colfax, 2,500 feet. it has been snowing all morning long. in fact, on the ground we have picked up almost an inch of snow at this lower elevation. we encountered snow at the 1,800 foot level. it is making for a beautiful sight in the foothills. for motorists you are changing up in colfax, a long run on chains up interstate 80 this morning. i can tell you that i went up yesterday and skied at sugar bowl. the powder is awesome. finally we have powder to talk about that is deep and plentiful. 12 to 18 more today. so great news for the ski areas this weekend. a huge deal for the economy in the sierra. they would love for you to come up to spend your money. i can tell you it is money well spent because the snow is awesome. use caution getting up there. no major problems on 80. we'll try to keep it that way for you. >> tell us a little bit about the conditions. you mentioned you got put on the

chains. are you driving on snow and ice or wet asphalt with snowy chains on? >> reporter: right now where we are in come fak, you go for a while on wet asphalt. it is interesting, a lot of people say why are we chaining up now with no snow on the road? there are certain areas where they have shoulders big enough for people to chain up. that could mean you chain up a couple miles early. that's happening right now. you are putting them on here, but just know a couple miles up the road you'll hit the snow that is deep. when you are scratching your head, be thankful you are not changing up in a lot of slushy, wet snow. i like to chain up early because it is more pleasant for the chainer. >> or the chainee. >> you are out there making some pretty good green. thank you so much. >> a dirty job to be on the chain gang. a woman stole credit card information at a bay area airport. find out who tipped them off coming up. and a bone that is said t t o nglol to a bliibca figure is in the bay area today.

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a man in china who complained for several years about chronic headaches now knows the cause. turns out he had a four-inch dagger in his skull. doctors found it when the man came in claiming he had headaches and difficult squal lowing. the man was stabbed while fighting off a robber four years ago. the blade broke off in there. luckily it missed his brain and artery and important nerves in his face. i guess he didn't know it was in there. >> get off that shot. we don't need to see that. >> at least it is not the actual thing, just the x-ray. >> this is him pulling it out of his eye. >> anyway, they got it out okay. he's a lot better. a church artifact is making its next stop in berkeley today. a glass-encased tibia bone will be on display at st. magdalene

parish. officials say the viewing of the relic will last until later tonight. the bone was discovered in france more than 800 years ago. the bible says st. mary magdalene was the first witness to the resurrection of jesus christ. the time now is 6:27. a lot of free parking to go away in one east bay city. we'll find out why. and work on the bay bridge could be done sooner than expected. see what's coming up in a live report. the president will land in the bay area. find out about the exclusive company he'll see coming up next. and we are keeping tabs on the snow coming down up in the sierra. a live look out at colfax. where and when you need to get l ong eadyor t fhe long weekend. ♪

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new this morning, taking some of your hard-earned money. a bay area woman accused of a massive credit card scam that has affected hundreds and there

may be more victims. the leader of the free world and titans of silicon valley. i'm bob redell with a look at the most exclusive dining engagement tonight in the bay area. get ready for some changes to your bay bridge commute. i'm christie smith. we'll tell you about an important announcement from caltrains that could mean the bridge will be done sooner than expected. and a live look outside this morning across the golden gate bridge. the roads are a little bit wet out there. play it safe. it is thursday, february 17th, on "today in the bay." good morning, everybody. the time is 6:30. i'm brent cannon. >> i'm laura garcia-cannon. it could be a rough commute out there. we'll check the forecast with christina. good morning to you, we are tracking fast-moving thunderstorms across the bay area. something we don't get to do very often. if you are somebody leaving

right now you do want to give yourself plenty of time as we have a myriad of different weather elements affecting the bay area right now. from heavy downpours to light snow over the highest elevations of the mountains, even lightning strikes here over the bay and the east bay. heading throughout this afternoon this is going to be the story, we'll see on and off scattered showers, moderate rain at times, and right now if you are waking up in fairfield, i would say in the next ten minutes, get ready for the heavy downpour. we'll track the storms popping up all morning long. stay tuned for that. with all the snow, the rain, the hail, how are the roadways looking, mike? you are talking about the north bay and fairfield getting the rain, we talked about mount st. he will, ena, helena, it is cold and wet up there. the bay bridge metering lights just turned on. here's an update, the note for highway 24, 580 onto highway 24, the connector reopened. that's better news heading over

to the tunnel off 580 in the commute direction. no major slowing there. the metering lights are turned on as well. we'll see the backup at the toll plaza itself as we move through the area. we'll also see the venetian bridge clearing the tree that fell down across westbound highway 4 onto highway 80. back to you. president obama is heading to the bay area today to have dinner with a select group of high-powered silicon valley executives. >> on the agenda using technology and invasion to create for jobs. we are live at sfo this morning with bob redell where air force one will touch down in a few hours. >> reporter: good morning. when you are trying to boost innovation in the country, it makes sense to turn to the heaviest hitters here in silicon valley. that's why when the president's plane air force one arrives at sfo this evening, it will be off to a dipper meeting with some of the titans of silicon valley and the tech industry. expected at the dinner table,

apple's ceo steve jobs, facebook founder mark zuckerberg, google's ceo eric schmidt and jeffrey emmill who is the president of jobs for the white house. the $3.7 trillion budget the president announced this week will be brought up at the meeting. the leader of the california republican party is criticizing obama's visit to the bay area calling tonight's meeting with the stars of the business world a, quote, 2012 re-election campaign photo-on. it has been a very short trip for the president as he meets tonight at the private dinner. it is not clear if there are any public appearances or whether the dinner will be taking place. tomorrow morning he'll be back here on air force one leaving sfo and heading north to oregon

where he'll be looking at construction sites where the newest intel chip production sites is located. >> they are tight-lipped about the whole visit. we don't know where he is staying tonight, bob? >> reporter: we don't. it is somewhere in the bay area. there's rumbling it could be in san francisco, which makes perfect sense. in the past that's where obama and clinton have stayed. sometimes they would stay in san francisco or in the south bay in san jose. the general vibe is san francisco. an accused credit card thief may have checked in your bags at san jose airport and checked in your bags. an american airlines ticket agent stold credit card numbers and hundreds of thousands of dollars. they say 49-year-old mishelin johnson stole credit card numbers from unsuspecting travelers and then used the numbers to make counterfeit credit cards. detectives say she used the

cards at safeway to buy gift cards which she then used to buy electronics. she allegedly sold those items on e-bay and pocketed the cash. one victim says that she was shocked to see charges on her bill. >> but this just happened that the charges were made while i was on the business trip, so it caught my eye and i looked really closely and checked the statement and realized those weren't my charges. >> investigators say that johnson's scandal was close to half a million dollars. her former boyfriend tipped them off calling safeway who then called police. this morning the jury screaming process in the shaun cy chauncy murder trial is continuing this morning. yusef is accused of killing chauncy bailey back in 2007. prosecutors say yusef bay wanted

chauncy bailey dead. another member is also charged in the killing. the final decision in the jury will be made on march 21st. there is a big announcement regarding the bay bridge later this morning. it could have an affect on your morning commute from the east bay. and christie smith is on treasure island now with more on that. >> reporter: good morning to you, brent. you know, what you are going to see is a series of lane realignment and detours way down there on that end on the oakland side right near the tole plaza. and this is important because of this construction project being the last piece of the puzzle, but now it is going to keep pace with work that you see on the suspension span going on. bottom line is that it means the new eastern span built for seismic safety will be done and available for you to drive on much sooner than originally expected. the critical part that we are talking about is called the oakland touchdown, about 1,000 feet of road where the bridge deck meets the ground over there

on the eastern side. today caltrans and the bay area toll authority will be giving a media tour and unveiling details on how the realignment detours will be working for commuters. the eastern span bottom line is going to open to traffic in both directions by the year 2013. that's the latest from here, reporting live on treasure island, christie smith, "today in the bay." something to watch out for, but hopefully good news is coming. thank you, kristy. >> time could be up for free parking on sundays. a special meeting will take place on this tonight. other park suggestions include a free hour of parking in city garages to changes as well as meter enforcement hours. the city wants to encourage people to use city-owned garages to save the prime spots on the street for the folks willing to shell out money for the premium spots. this meeting will be at 7:00 tonight at walnut creek's city hall. still to come on "today in the bay," one state turns down

billions of dollars to pay for high-speed trains. well, will that money now end up in california? a live report from washington is coming up on that. plus a blow to a manhattan restaurant. see how a celebrity handled its steak next. and a live look at san francisco this morning. you can see the clouds in the background. we have some showers moving through. it depends on what clouds you are under today. we are checking in with christina all morning long. [ female announcer ] shopping with nutrition in mind

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good morning, everybody. a live look outside this morning. the bay bridge is one of the places as we were mentioning where you could see a few changes, some of the construction going on there. plus you have the wet roads and windy conditions. play it safe heading out today. s in this is a problem in the south bay, the glaring sun could be to blame for six crashes involving 20 cars in idaho. it took crews two hours to clear the crashes near boise, yesterday. three people were injured. police actually think it was a combination of wet roads and bright sun that led to the crashes. the reflection off the pavement

may have blinded drivers. a manhattan restaurant did not get the best endorsement from the city's new top dog. hickory, the scottish deerhound, won best in show at the westminster club kennel at went to lunch near times square served a sirloin steak. he is not really interested and not eating that. not having it. he was eating a $37 steak. for the restaurant it was a $37 mistake. >> you probably would have is that the down and finished it off. >> he didn't like that one. 6:42. florida is turning down billions in federal funding. now governor brown says if they don't want it he'll take it. a live report from washington coming up. music row is going to perform in the bay area next week, so why did prince just u ysda n a' few e?ys nototice? we'll have the story coming up. c

oh, it is comingdown over mammoth right now. the sierra nevada getting hit pretty hard. the entire bay area, no exception this morning. we've got showers coming in from the pacific. we are also tracking a few heavy cells capable of producing some hail. we are talking about thunderstorms this morning. let me zoom in for you. this is the most potent system. this cell developed 15 to 20 minutes ago passing through fairfield. you can see the red, organize, yellow, this is a thunderstorm embedded within the thunderstorm with heavy rain coming down. quick downpours. we could see some pea-sized hail from this one as well as gusty

wind. we'll see the pop-up storms all throughout the day today, especially this afternoon was we pick up more daytime heating. we'll see breaks of sunshine to warm us up just enough for some thunderstorm activity later this afternoon. it will become a little more frequent. san bruno right now looks like we have a pretty strong cell headed towards you. lightning strikes throughout the morning. you probably woke up to some thunder in the the east bay this morning. let me show you what's going to happen. the big news is most of the rain today and tomorrow will be in the south bay where we typically see it in the north bay. you can see here is our train of moisture. and as i zoom in for you and show you exactly what we are expecting in terms of our rainfall totals, yeah, the big winner will be in the south bay as the system slides south to bring us all the moisture into the south bay. so as we head through the next couple of days we'll see a flip-flop of what we saw yesterday. we are looking towards major totals in the south bay today. gilroy could pick up to three inches of rain before all is said and done today.

let's talk about what's coming up. we do have cooler conditions, rain in the forecast each and every day. and i have promised you a mammoth update all morning long. it is time to get to the mammoth update. jodi, how are you doing out there this morning? >> reporter: hi, good morning here from mammoth mountain atop california this cold thursday morning. the rain you are experiencing in the bay area is translating to snow here in mammoth. we picked up a foot in the last 24 hours. forecasters think we could see four feet by the weekend. that's great news for us with a base of 9 to 15 1/2 feet of snow. today will be a good day for the powder house. next week we kick off a month of events here at mammoth starting with a big family event called the whoolly winter event. >> that sound great. what is the snow doing for our

drive, mike inouye? we are not going to get up to mount hamilton if you are a snowboarder because they do close the road. so far it is still open. the tree is down here at highway 4 down to westbound 880. you can see the slowing approaching the area through san pablo and richmond. we'll look at the travel times. still a smooth flow. 24 minutes, not so bad coming down the east shore freeway. we have a wet commute. a live looked at the bay bridge toll plaza is back past the 880 overcrossing through the freeway here. use caution getting on to city streets. another live look out there showing things near oakland. a heavier volume southbound. all lanes are now clearing. glowing lights with the camera shaking because of the wind. we are watching for that. back to you. we could see it all today,

main snow, hail, like lightning. drivers need to plan ahead. >> marla tellez is live with what to expect on your way to work. do we have to ring out the coat today? >> reporter: yeah, it is really a bad hair day already, laura. i don't know why i did my hair this morning to tell you the truth, right? it has been coming down hard all morning long. we have yet to see a break the in this rain. we are at the base of the santa cruz mountains. the commute looks like it has moved along without any problems this morning. we have made the drive up and over the summit a couple hours ago. drivers are certainly dealing with slick conditions and some fog. chp has issued a fog advisory for the santa cruz mountains. there are signs posted warning drivers of the reduced visibility. now the national weather service tells me there's a slight possibility of hail in the santa cruz mountains specifically because i can assure you it is very cold out here this morning. now, during yesterday's morning

commute the peninsula and parts of the east bay got hammered with a very unusual hailstorm. it surprised so many because it is not something we are too used to here in the bay area. >> at the same time, this is kind of the first time i have seen it this thick. especially in this area. especially this area, i don't know what caused it, but it is kind of weird. kind of weird. >> reporter: that gentleman was in san bruno. christina says you can expect more of the same today. more hail perhaps throughout the bay area. now, also, yesterday more than 1,200 people throughout the area lost power. so i'm sure pg&e crews will be busy once again today. as for your morning commute, just be patient on the roads. drive safely. that's it now for the base of the santa cruz mountains. marla tellez for "today in the bay." well, you shop online and pay your bills online. soon you could be able to register to vote online.

state senator leland ye is supporting voting through your registrar's office. the registrar's verify the information by using the voter's signature from the dmv. he says the bill would safe money and cut back on mistakes and typos that happen when clerks try to read people's handwriting on paper registration forms. president obama will arrive in the bay area later today. >> he'll meet with several technology leaders at a private home to talk about how to expand the economy and create jobs. the president's budget for 2012 calls for a lot more money for research and development. facebook founder mark zuckerberg is one of the people expected to be at tonight's dinner. then air force once is scheduled to land at 6:00 this evening. the president spends the night here and moves on to oregon tomorrow morning. we just checked in with cnbc's nicole lapin doing a series of states in financial trouble. he says 48 out of 50 states are dealing with budget shortfalls

totaling $191 billion, the largest gap on record. with more on what the obama administration is doing to help, we say good morning to capitol hill reporter kristen dahlgren. >> reporter: hey, good morning. yes, one of president obama's big initiatives is high-speed rail and spending on infrastructure to make the future better. and he is making tough decisions. yesterday we heard from florida governor rick scott who rejected $2.4 billion from the federal government to pay for a high-speed rail line that would have linked tampa and orlando. even with the federal funding the cost would be too great he said to florida taxpayers. a lot of people in california jumped on that pretty quickly. jerry brown was quick to say he would love to take those funds for california's budget train center. the transportation secretary ray lahood said california could use that money.

when ohio and wisconsin scrapped similar plans california did get half of the money that had been allotted to them, about $616 million. critics of the california bullet train say it is still going to be an expensive process but work is expected to begin next year on the central valley portion of that. and if california were to get a little extra funding it could extend that up to san jose. a lot of people are watching this very closely to see what happens with that federal money that was going to go to florida. back to you. >> certainly so. we'll take it if they don't want it as governor brown says. thank you. meantime, some good news for drivers on the bay bridge. they are going to be back on the span sooner than planned. construction is moving ahead of schedule. christie smith is on treasure island with what bridge leaders are expected to tell us today. you look toasty warm out there. >> reporter: i am just frozen to the bone here. a while back that s-curve took

some getting used to. this is a big change way down on that end on oakland's side. here's what you will see near the fog plaza. this is called the oakland touchdown. 1,000 feet there on the eastern side where the depth meets the ground. this series of changes was supposed to be the last part of the puzzle for this construction project on the new bay bridge. by moving it up it will be inline with construction on the suspension span. that's important. caltrans is going to unveil details on all this with immediate tour later this morning. of course we'll be there. the eastern span is expected to open in both directions coming up in the year 2013. reporting live on treasure island, christie smith, "today in the bay." the good news is you are finished and can head to the live truck to stay warm. thanks a lot. >> thank you. when you win a world series you get a treasure on your map. >> one rival is really keeping

it a secret. padre's pitcher matt lados teamed up to sell three autographed baseball all signed "it hate sf." the first of the three baseballs sold for almost $300,000. proceeds go to the major baseball alumni association. i think the giants should have another one. they signed it "bring it." sign those to make money. >> yes, exactly. well, meanwhile the a's are responding to an internet video that shows fans being shorted on beer. >> yes, this is amazing. we showed this yesterday. >> in case you missed it, look at this video. this was posted this week to an a's fan forum. the video shows this fellow using water. small beer and then we have a big beer in the other hand. okay, now, what would happen if you poured one into the other? well, he finds out they are the exact same size.

oh, shocker! somebody is getting ripped off here. bob rose is down at arizona spring training. he says this dates back to may. nobody is buying beer at the oakland stadium right now. it was a mistake by the vendor. bob points out what we pointed out yesterday. if you can pour a $5 beer into an $8 beer cup, that just means that the guy getting the small beer is getting a lot more beer. so in a way look at this video as like the guy -- remember the kid in school when the teacher dismisses you that says, what about homework? don't ruin it for everybody getting free beer by putting it on the internet. my beer cup is half full. >> bottom line, he got ripped off. i don't care how you put it. >> what about homework? >> if you pay $3 more you should get more for it. >> yes, you should, but they got

more beer. >> now you know the bottom line. bringing you news you can use. >> we need more research. prince is coming to the bay area, but he just announced yesterday he'll be here monday. >> yeah, rain today, purple rain next monday and wednesday at the oracle arena. tickets go on sale friday. $50 to $250 for tickets. prince has been giving fans very short notice for most of his tour. there he goes, coming to the bay area. all right. thank you so much for joining us this morning. the "today" show is coming up next. >> and a local news update in what will be a half hour. see you then. t park themselves. an unmanned car driven by a search engine company. we've seen that movie. it ends with robots harvesting our bodies for energy. [ engine revs ]

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