i'm bob redell. that story is coming up. also, the governor could intercept plans to build a new 49ers stadium. good morning, i'm marla tellez. how the santa clara city council is hoping to get around this otherwise coming up in a live report. and a cold start to this monday, february 21st, "today in the bay." good monday morning, everybody. thank you for joining us. strait up 6:00. i'm brent cannon. >> i'm laura garcia-cannon. let's get things moving with a look at the forecast with christina. good morning to you. it is so hard to move when it is frigid outside, but we have to get to work this morning. some of us do, anyways. 38 in fairfield, same for concord, and 35 in napa. a little more mild along the peninsula, but we have showered to add to the mix as the system

of low pressure is dropping into the pacific northwest. this is kicking up rain activity all the way from santa rosa south to san francisco. we are seeing some light showers. and this will probably be the case for the next few hours. then partly cloudy skies anticipated for the second half of your presidents' day. i do think you can get outside today. we'll talk about that coming up. we'll get you to work on time if you have to go today. good morning to you, mike. if you have to go, you have to go. that's what my 5-year-old says when he's dancing as well. we'll look at the south bay, you are talking at snow. it is not affecting your main routes but you are being affected trying to get to the peak of mount hamilton. it is still closed at quimby road. don't try to drive up there. you will get a ticket for that, in fact. further out we are looking at the b.a.r.t. system operating on a saturday schedule. just kicking off train service now. most of the other muni lines including ac transit are operating on a modified schedule today. a live look at the bay bridge toll plaza shows a light volume

of traffic this morning. it is presidents' day, so a light flow through the morning commute. we are expecting more towards the midday. back to you guys. thank you, mike. a san francisco mother is praying for her daughter this morning. she has been captured by somali pirates while on a voyage around the world. bob redell is live with a look at their story. >> reporter: good morning to you. phyllis mckay has been on a three-year around the world voyage by yacht. one that has taken her through the very waters here off the bay of san francisco. but now she, her friend and another couple who happen to be from california are stuck somewhere off the coast of somalia held captive by pirates onboard a 58-foot long yacht called "the quest." it is a ship that belongs to that couple from california. mckay and her friend joined the couple in india and were on their way to aman when seized last week. mckay's niece who lives in oakley says the family is very anxious, very concerned about her safety. and in an e-mail just before

valentine's to her mother who lives here in san francisco, mckay indicated she was aware of the problem off pirates off the coast of somalia, but the skipper had done research and should be sailing far enough offshore to be okay. unfortunately that turned out not to be the case. last night a church in santa monica held a vigil for the couple from california praying for their safe return. >> we are broken hearted, of course. all day we have been in prayer, love and support for that beautiful family. >> reporter: mckay's family here in the bay area says they are in touch with federal authorities. there are reports that a u.s. navy warship is shadowing "the quest" perhaps in an attempt to rescue the four americans, but time is of the essence. the quest is heading to the coast of somalia. once it hits shore if it hits shore, a rescue attempt becomes much more unlikely if not impossible. reporting live in san francisco, bob redell, "today in the bay." thank you for the update,

bob. >> new this morning, the son of libya's leader says the country is poised for civil war. we've got video posted to youtube overnight. they are actually some of the first pictures of anti-government protests there. supporters say protesters and security forces are fighting in the capital city of tripoli and protesters have taken control of the country's second largest city. moammar gadhafi's son went on tv to say his father was still in charge and with the army's backing they will fight until the last man, the last woman, the last bullet. a weekend adventure turned deadly for two teens in the east bay. 16-year-old matthew miller and 17-year-old gavin powell tried to go rafting in the drainage canal on saturday afternoon. they were in a two-person inflatable raft with helmets but no life preservers. they were supposed to meet a friend a few hours later downstream but never arrived. the friends say that the boys were well liked. their bodies were found in the

rough waters about a mile apart in concord. an ac transit driver now says something has to be done to two pekt them better on on the job after a shooing in north rich moshd. angry riders sometimes become threatening. earlier this month something shot the back window of a bus on third street and goef avenue in richmond. because of that sheriff deputies have been escorting buses for about a year, but the union representing ac transit and mechanics plan to push for better safety standards. ac transit says one thing it will do is put more cameras on the buses that drive through high-crime areas. it is 6:05 right now. hurry up offense for the city of santa clara. marla tellez is live with more on some of the forward progress. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, laura. yeah, the santa clara city council is certainly ready to put up a fight to save its plan

to build a new 49ers football stadium. that would go behind me here. it is currently just an empty parking lot, not anything exciting, but this could become the new home for the 49ers. we are near great america parkway directly across the street from where the san francisco 49ers practice. this is a look at the facility with the nice 9ers emblem up. the issue, redevelopment funds. when governor jerry brown took office at the beginning of the year he proposed axing redevelopment agencies statewide. if he does that it will jeopardize the stadium maybe entirely because the san today clara city council would lose the redevelopment money that's absolutely needed to build the new stadium, up to $40 million worth. now this money was approved by voters back in june. that same measure that was approved by voters prohibits the city from dipping into any city funds to pay for the project. so it would mean the council and the 49ers would have to come up

with money from private sources. so at tomorrow night's city council meeting members plan to memorialize language into the deal letting governor brown know they have been depending on the money long before he took office. the council is also expected to establish itself as the stadium authority which would own and operate the stadium. that meeting is tomorrow night at 7:00. now, i am in touch with the mayor of santa clara this morning, jamie matthews. i hope to bring you his comments coming up in my next report. for now, live in santa clara, marla tellez for "today in the bay." meantime, fremont teachers and school district leaders are not seeing eye to eye. a new contract negotiation will be talked about on thursday about a three-year contract. teachers have not had a pay increase in three years and want to raise it to cover rising health costs. a list of negotiation priorities including a salary decrease will take place because of the huge

loss of funding over the past three years. the districts a wants more power to evaluate and layoff teachers. a group of san francisco parents made it their mission to get an initiative on june's special election ballot. governor jerry brown's proposed budget hinges on getting voters to pass the extension of taxes now set to expire on all1st. without the backing of voters public exfaces drastic devastating cuts. the first huddle is getting the measure on the june ballot. for that there needs to be two-thirds vote by the ballot. right now the governor is four votes short. >> if our leaders don't get it done and don't have the strength to get it done and don't have the political will, let us as parents give them that will and let's get it passed. >> educateourstate..org hopes to help parents send an e-mail directly to the local legislature. the group hopes to have 10,000 letters sent by the end of today. so far they have just under

$9,000. this year's maverick surf competition may not happen at all. if there are no big waves by the end of the month the competition is going to be canceled. this is video from last year's competition. experts as you know watch and wait for the massive waves to come and then they call the top surfers around the world. if the waves come before the end of the month then surfers just have 24 hours to drop everything and fly to half-moon bay for the contest. if mavericks is canceled it would be the third time in five years. it will be interesting to see. we'll keep you posted on that. also, the forecast, you know, we have a taste of spring a few weeks ago. now winter made a comeback. >> yeah, we have all that new growth that we need to protect when we see freezing temperatures. in the coming days we'll see temperatures really close to that 32-degree mark each and every morning. then as we head through the latter part of this week, more rain and low snow levels on the way. right now we actually have some low snow levels on rain coming down in the northern most

portions of the bay area. we'll zoom in to show you where showers are coming down. you can see the pink, the white. well, the pink is actually the rain/snow line. you actually have some snow coming down in the surrounding hills of fairfield. so what's happening is we have spinoff showers from a system heading off to the north as we head further into the day. that's going to take all this action to the north with it. right now we have slick conditions. expect pretty slick driving conditions along the richmond bridge and the bay bridge in the next 15 to 20 minutes. otherwise showers will continue to be light in nature and push south heading through the next couple of hours. i don't think they will make it to the south bay. 37 degrees in the east bay at 7:00 a.m. by noon, 50 degrees. you need the jacket all day today only ending at 55 degrees. staying mild, but we'll see partly cloudy conditions, mild conditions for the second half of the day. deeper into the forecast heading through the week is coming up. right now back to you. we'll take it over here. you are talking about partly cloudy, partly clear.

we have mostly clear as far as the volume goes. the speed sensors picked up close to the speed limit. it is 65 for the speed limit. an easy drive into the city over the upper deck. no construction overnight. debris was reported westbound 880 towards the civic center exit. the grew has just taken care of that. i'm going to clear it. by the time you get there it shouldn't be an issue. heading into downtown later today for some shopping, union square has a construction zone continuing there. but a lot of holiday shoppers, i thought i would give you the extra shout out. stockton is a concern because of the subway project there. and a live look over oakland, traffic is so light right now no major slowing. back to you. still to come on "today in the bay," the man in charge of muni could be on the move. and a controversial gun decision. we'll tell you where college students and professors will be allowed to carry guns on campuses. the deadline is looming for congress to get a budget passed for this year. find out how the government

shutdown could affect you coming up. and a live look outside at the bay bridge this morning. again, it could be holiday light on your morning commute, but it will be holiday cold as well. we'll check your forecast and your traffic all morning long.

good morning to everybody. welcome back. a live look at the oracle arena where they could be seeing purple rain later on. we'll explain that coming up. hundreds will join the family of cesar chavez to dedicate 40 acres as a national

historical landmark. he was a labor leader and civil rights activists during the 1960s, '70s and '80s. maybe of the pivotal movement that shaped chavez's life inspired millions to political activism. the dedication ceremony kicks off at 9:00. news this morning that nathaniel ford is a finalist to run the airport in washington, d.c. ford has no aviation experience but the washington airport is adding a 23-mile extension to metro rail. if he does get the job then ford plans to keep his muni job for another six weeks. the bay area's busiest transit agency could face a budget shortfall of more than $1 billion over the next 20 years. it is 6:15 right now. texas is getting ready to give college students and professors the right to carry guns on campus. more than half the members of the statehouse signed on as co-authors of the bill. it tells universities to allow

concealed handguns. the senate is expected to pass it as well. and the governor is expected to sign it. the supporters say the measure could stop campus violence like the shooting at virginia tech back in 2007. texas has 38 public universities with more than half a million students. if lawmakers cannot agree on a new spending plan in the next few weeks we could see a federal government shut down. it will be the first one in 15 years. the senate is on recess right now and when it returns they will just have five days to pass a bill to keep the government running past march 4th. the debate is over what to cut and that is raging in washington right now. >> we have said shutdown is off the table. speaker boehner, mitch mcconnell, other republicans have not taken it off the table. >> we are not looking for a government shutdown, but at the seem time we are not looking to rubber stamp the high elevated spending levels that congress blew through the joint two years ago. >> if there's a shutdown the

military stays active and government checks are still issued. however, new applicants to federal wroteprograms like social security could see delays. in wisconsin this morning a call for teachers to return to the classroom after a week of protests. teachers plan to travel to the state capitol in madison today to fight for benefits of fair working commissions. the week-long protests caused several school districts to shut down last week. today the head of wisconsin's teachers union is asking teachers to return to school. schools are off for presidents' day and the union head is ordering the teachers to be present by tomorrow. right now we want to check in with scott because last week apple released a report saying that it was cracking down on dangerous conditions in factories and now apparently the chinese media has gotten ahold of that. >> i thought you would think it was an interesting full circle. the news coming full circle. this is video from a chinese newscast talking about something we already knew, that dozens of workers making the touch screen for apple gadgets were exposed

to a chemical called anhexine near shanghai. it required the supplier to stop using the chemical and repair the ventilation system and will audit the factory again this year to ensure it is complying with the standards. the wall street journal says renewed interest by the federal government has occurred over anti-trust issues. apple's stock was down 2% on friday. no trading on anything this morning, the stock markets are closed because of the holiday. brent and laura? thank you. a big storm in the upper midwest is not taking the presidents' day holiday off. several states are warning people not to travel by car or plane because of blowing snow and ice. in fact, delta airlines has canceled about 700 flights in and out of the minneapolis/st. paul airport. and about 200 planes are grounded in detroit and chicago. the forecasters expect that storm to continue in the upper midwest throughout the middle of the week. so one of the places to take

your presidents' day vacation and not go to. a little bit of snow we saw in the south bay. a cold, cold weekend. >> a cold, cold weekend and another one on tap. but, you know what, we'll see dry days ahead. the second half of the day will start the drying trend. we have a system of low pressure off to the north taking a ride on the sxwret jet stream later today. this morning it is kicking off shower activity in the north bay and the showers are now pushing south down the peninsula also through the east bay. so we have a pretty good line of showers right now extending from fairfield all the way to san francisco. as we head throughout the next few hours we'll continue to see some of this light scattered shower activity. but take a look, we still have very cold conditions out there and low snow levels. a little bit of snow coming down in the surrounding hills of fairfield. i do want to point out south of san bruno, san mateo, san jose, relatively dry right now. that will probably be the case. i don't think a lot of the showers will make their way to san jose.

half-moon bay, you will see activity in the next 15 minutes, but it will be light and really quick. 56 degrees in oakland. 52 in fremont. 53 in san jose. if you want to get on outside to enjoy the holiday, i think the second half of the day is going to be your time to get out there. as we head through the next couple of days a little bit of a warm up, nice and dry, 57 degrees. 56 for your wednesday. more showers arrive late thursday into friday. another round friday into saturday. low snow levels all the way throughout this coming weekend. we'll go into detail on that, but right now we promised you this all last week. the word of the day, here it is. "gone with the wind. "yes, that's not just one word, that's four words. but still, go ahead and log on to our website, nbcbayarea.com. enter the word of the day and you will be entered to win one of our fantastic prizes courtesy of american airlines and the tribeca film festival as well as the dallas and los angeles festivals. or you can win two tickets to

our local cinequest. that's a great one. two nights at the hilton. we'll have a good sometime with cinequest. we are proud sponsors. right now i'm going to send it back to two people who probably want to see a movie right about now. they haven't had a chance to because they have triplets at home. >> saturday night, country bears. saw it again. >> that's a staple. >> i don't know how many times we have seen that. 6:21 right now. mike is coming up with a look at the morning commute. not a lot of traffic out there. >> a the giants' outfield could be as crowded as the bay bridge toll plaza. we'll take a look at all the players now in having a sh havg a shot at spring training coming up next. ot

welcome back, everyone. good monday morning to you. kind of surprising the amount of traffic out there on 880 in oakland this morning. i mean, surprising to me because a lot of people have today off, it is a vacation day. you are busy at work over there.

>> i am. mike was telling us that, you know, it is the holiday, presidents' day, he's seeing a fair volume of traffic out there this morning. 880 is very light, but a lot of cars still out there. take note of that, folks. we have another issue for oakland as well. you just showed the coliseum shot, but just off 580 we have an accident reported near coolidge avenue at school street. they may have slowing at the intersection. it was not a major injury accident, but a car ran into a tree there. we'll check it out. the chopper didn't think it was a big deal, so over to the bay bridge. look at the beautiful shot from the chopper. zucchini the city, you can see the city in the background. the upper deck is very sparsely populated. a lot of cars, but for the bay bridge, that's nothing. the lower deck, an easy drive. no overnight construction because of the presidents' day holiday. that's why we are likely seeing less folks on the roadway. no metering lights. here's the approach to the bay bridge itself. 18 minutes off the east shore.

do we have the web cam? there we go, coming through the sierra, if you are expecting folks coming through, they should be okay. both 880 and 50 are open. back to you. the latest winner of the daytona 500 has only been legal to drive for four years. trevor banee winning the race that kicked off the nascar season yesterday. it was down to the stretch for the checkered flag there. he just celebrated his 20th birthday on saturday, so what a great way to celebrate there. is he old enough to have the sam champagne? he's the youngest daytona 500 champ ever. maybe he'll be one of the guys that gets the milk. looks like somebody forget to tell kobe bryant that the nba all-star game is just an exhibition game. he came out flying yesterday as he pounds a couple down at the staples center. he finished with 37 points. and the west beat the east, 148-143. bryant was also named the mvp for the fourth time, which is now tied for the most ever. the giants are trying to

answer a question on who will be left. manager bruce bocce is trying to stay pretty open-minded about left field. he appears to have a log-jam of players up for the spot. a pretty good problem to have. candidates include pat burrell to played the position the most last season. aubrey huff could move there if brandon bell pushes him to the outfield. mark derosa was opening day left-fielder last year. and nate shierholtz is another option. he could platoon the opening as well. he has a little bit of time to make up his mind, but what a problem to have. the time is 6:26. and east bay refinery is firing up again. find out why that could be good news for you. and prince hits the stage at the oracle arena tonight. find out how you can still see him coming up. santa clara still hoping to bring the 49ers to the south bay

despite a potentially deal-breaking budget ruling. we'll take a look at the latest move to try to keep the stadium hopes alive coming up in a live report. a live look over san francisco this morning. chopper is flying high in the sky to help give you a bird's eye view of the morning commute. mike will help as well coming up. 6:27 right now. twizzlers. the twist you can't resist.

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it's the starbucks via taste promise. look for it where you buy groceries. the future of bay to breakers is fuzzy this morning. find out why the race could reach the finish line this year. and the governor could ruin plans to build a new 49ers stadium. good morning, i'm marla tellez. i'm going to tell you how the city council hopes to keep that plan alive coming up. and a live look outside this morning. some people are heading out getting to work. traffic is moving pretty well right there, but mike will check your presidents' day commute

coming up on this monday, february 21st, on "today in the bay." and good morning, everybody. thank you for joining us. 6:30 right now. i'm brent cannon. i'm laura garcia-cannon. let's check on the forecast with christina. it is a wet start. >> it is a wet start in the north bay. we have a line of showers pushing along interstate 880 from fairfield. it is actually moving pretty quickly. so i think that as you head through the next 15 to 20 minutes, if you are waking up in vallejo and it is not raining outside your house, expect the showers in the next ten minutes. right now the peninsula is getting a bit of activity with a good line of showers moving over the richmond bridge headed to the bay bridge. those will be slick in the next half hour, so take it easy out there. but the good news is we are not seeing the showers across the entire bay area. for the most part they are staying north of san bruno. however, i'm watching this little cell approaching

half-moon bay. i think it will be able to make its way onshore. we are looking to a little bit of scattered activity for the first part of the day. partly cloudy skies but cool all day long. speaking of cool, mike, how do the roadways look? hey, cool. that was really lame. they are looking really nice at highway 4. the indicator for slowing is showing you 61. that's an indicator for how light the volume of traffic is through the area. out of the north bay we'll talk about the rain potentially coming through fairfield. keep that in mind if you are headed counter commute on interstate 880 with the commute direction moving smoothly to the toll plaza. no backup at the toll plaza itself. the chopper is over san francisco. looking around the hospital curve there, you can see it is very sparsely populated for 101 in or out of san francisco. a beautiful view, clear skies here. thank you so much, chopper. another issue for the city, let me take you back to the maps, here's a scenic view of union square. if you are heading there for shopping, keep in mind parking to the access lots could be affected. back to you guys.

6:31 right now. hope for the 49ers to build a new stadium in santa clara is still alive but the money needed to build it may not be. it depends on governor brown's budget plans. "today in the bay's" marla tellez is live in santa clara with how the city council is working to convince the governor to keep their plans in place. >> reporter: good morning, laura. it is a plan that's been in motion for about four years now. that's bringing the 9ers to santa clara. governor brown who has been in office for less than two months has the power to completely wipe out the plan altogether. now behind me is just an empty parking lot. this could become the future home of the san francisco 49ers if the council's plan stays in place. it is directly across the street from their practice facility in santa clara right near great america parkway. at issue this morning redevelopment funds. when governor jerry brown took office at the beginning of the year he proposed doing away with all redevelopment agencies

statewide. now if he does that that would jeopardize the stadium, maybe entirely. that's because the santa clara city council would lose the redevelopment money needed to build this new stadium. that is up to $40 million worth. now this money was approved by voters back in june. so at tomorrow night's city council meeting members plan to send governor brown a message, do not take away our stadium money making sure he knows they have been depending on this money long before he took office. the total price tag on the stadium, $937 million. it would seat 68,500 fans. again, that meeting where they plan to send this message to governor brown is scheduled for tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m. in council chambers. live in santa clara this morning, marla tellez, "today in the bay." >> the fight keeps going on. thank you, marla. congressman mike honda is

calling for an apology from the federal government this morning. honda says it is time for an official apology for the chinese exclusion act of 1882. it suspended chinese immigration, made chinese living in america ineligible for citizenship and was later extended to other asians. honda made the comment during a day of remembrance event in san jose yesterday. it was one of many similar events throughout the bay area. the day of remembrance marks the anniversary of the internment of japanese americans 69 years ago on sunday. 120,000 japanese and japanese-americans were ordered into internment camps during world war ii. hundreds of people gathered throughout the bay area yesterday to remember that difficult chapter in america's history. in 1988 president ronald reagan signed legislation to apologize for the internment. it is 6:34 right now. many in san francisco are singing the blues this morning. one of the bay area's legendary guitarists died a few hours after his last gig. 59-year-old johnny nitro played his last show on friday night at

the saloon. san francisco's oldest blues bar there. he died on saturday. he performed a few nights a week with his band, the door slammers, and taught music to dozens of young musicians in san francisco. nitro was suffering from heart disease and diabetes for years. his friends plan to play a show in his honor on march 30th at the little fox in redwood city. gas prices soaring to $4 a gallon and an east bay refinery is set to come back online. the valero refinery will test equipment throughout the week. the public shouldn't worry to hear hissing sounds coming from the steam pipes or see flames shooting out of the stacks. they are normal procedures. valero also plans to install special equipment to reduce emissions. that refinery has been out of service since last december as they undergo the repairs. now, even if you don't live in the east bay, that valero refinery could affect you. it has been shut down and that's

partly to blame for higher gas prices in the area. when it is at full capacity it can refine 170,000 barrels of oil per day. the future of the famous bay to breakers race is in question this morning. this year's event will be on may 15th and will be the 100th anniversary of the race. organizers say there's no plan to make the centennial run the last bay to breakers but there's no title sponsor for this year's race. it continues to lose money. city leaders of those living along the race route complain about public urination, people being sick, trash and drinking. but race organizers say efforts to reduce drug drunkenness has drawn a huge number out of turnouts this year. bay to breakers in the bay area is getting ready for prince coming to oracle tonight. we told you last week he surprised us with a couple of surprise concerts.

one is tonight at the oracle arena. one is wednesday night. and we hear that tickets are still available. he's going to be performing with sheila ede. she's one of the bay area's favorites. go out to get yourself a little purple rain. the time is 6:37. a new report looks at how the u.s. ranks with the rest of the world when it comes to drinking. we'll take a look at a live report. and two reporters get attacked covering a satisfactory story in sacramento. we'll tell you what led up to the attack. and rescue efforts are underway this morning for a california couple that was kidnapped by somali pirates. taking a live look outside, chopper is overlooking the bay area. we have some activity that's going on. we'll check out what is going on. it looks like breaking news. 6:37 right now. i love america,

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try the all american jack and enter to win an all-american spring break for you and 10 of your friends. a lot of new snow even locally, not just for mammoth. this is mount diablo. you can see some of that snow is sticking around up there. we actually have some snowfall coming down in the hills

surrounding fairfield as we speak. a system of low pressure is trying to push into the bay area, but the jet stream possibly won't allow that. the high pressure amplifying it at the same time, that means as the system does continue to push off to the south it is actually going to end up taking a turn to the north riding out of the bay area. so the showers we are picking up right now won't be the factor for the second half of the day. i'll show you on the futurecast what we are expecting to happen. right now we have a line of scattered showers coming down on i-80 through fairfield and richmond. even san francisco is getting a little bit of shower activity now, but you see the whites, yeah, a little bit of snowfall as well. the snow level this morning is at 1,000 feet because it is so cold out there. you probably need to give yourself extra time to get the frost off the windshield. but we'll talk about what to expect from the showers today. if you are attending any presidents' day parades, i don't think it will rain on your parade, especially if you are headed out past noon because what will happen is as we head throughout the day today the system pushes off to the north.

the rain will be coming down offshore. by 3:00 p.m. and entire dry bay area. that's what we are expecting as we head throughout the second half of the day. that system is pushing back offshore taking a ride to the north. we should stay dry throughout the remainder of tonight into tomorrow. then our next round of rain arrives thursday into friday. today we are talking about the 50s. 56 degrees in oakland. 52 in fremont. your seven-day outlook shops you staying cold all the way throughout this wednesday. showers arrive late thursday, low snow levels down to 500 feet in some pockets. we'll talk more about that coming up. mike, i think a lot of people are going to get up to the snow on mount hamilton today. will they be able to? we say don't go, christina, as is tradition the roadway is closed because of slippery conditions. when someone slides off the roadway the tow truck getting through has trouble as well. it is closed at quimby. the wind farms are seeing no major problems. we are following a jeep wrangler coming westbound. no issues as far as the travel

times. you notice the cars green through the area. it is a 14-minute drive this presidents' day. things are smooth through livermore, pleasanton and the dublin interchange through the castro valley at the top of the screen and also through hayward. the speed limit indicators are heading over the water. we are giving you a look out there at the bay bridge, travel times approaching are really nice. close to the limit for all feeder roads. chopper had just checked out that fire we talked about showing you the fire engines, no major incidents through san mateo or millbrae, but there was no smoke visible. that's better news. back to you. 6:43 right now. a california couple is in the hands of somali pirates this morning. they were kidnapped sailing off the coast of aman. john cadiz klemack from los angeles is live in marina del ray where jean and scott adam started their trip years ago, right, john? >> reporter: yes, seven years ago, in fact. this is their worldwide adventure as they hand out bibles in different places they stop. they have a church they go to in

santa man ka. last night a lot of people prayed for their safe return, but there are scary moments out there on the high seas. you mentioned the kidnapping of them, they were hijacked heading to the southern tip of africa. we understand there's a u.s. navy warship shadowing them. the big concern is if they get to the mainland, it will be a lot harder to either rescue them, maybe even take a lot longer should that even become a possibility. we don't really know exactly what's going to happen now. u.s. officials are not giving much details into their plan of attack per se as how they will get the rescue to happen. but there are four people on the yacht. the couple from southern california here, there's also a couple that is with them from seattle. they were all riding in this yacht apparently with a group of boaters at one point until they decided three days before the hijacking to kind of go off solo, go around the tip of india, and that's where the hijacking actually happened. so, again, we are waiting to hear word as to what's going to happen next, whether they have

made the mainland at this point, we are not exactly sure. >> yeah, and it is frightening once they make that how hard it will be to get them. thank you, john. 6:45. scary moments for a tv news crew in sang a mento sacramento when an angry mob attacks on a makeshift memorial for a man killed outside an ihop restaurant. dozens of people punched and pushed the paragrapher photographer to the ground. police arrived a short time later, but by that time the attackers had fled the scene. the journalists had several cuts and swollen faces. the connection between hannah montana and the uprising in egypt are coming up. plus, conan once smashed a giant pumpkin on his show using a monster truck. we'll show you how you can make your dreams come true, the question is, we want to know what would you smash? look at the snow up in the

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beautiful, look at that. the sun is coming up over the bay area, and the chopper is flying high giving you a bird's eye view. you can feel like you are in it. 6:48 right now. do you have stuff lying around your house from your exthat you

would like to get rid of? bob redell is live now with an idea about how you can dispose of some of that unwanted stuff and get a little bit of satisfaction at the same time. good morning, bob. >> reporter: well, laura, if you are like me you like to take the items out with a baseball bat, but that's only so much fun. so wouldn't it be a lot more fun if you had some six-foot giant wheels holding up the weight of a 10,000-pound monster truck? we are inviting you at home this friday to come on down to the oracle arena to have your items smashed by a monster truck. we are not saying it is a cattle call, come on down willy nilly. e-mail me at bobredell@nbcuni. shoot me an e-mail of the object. if you are chosen we'll have you come down on friday across the bay from where we are at near the oracle arena to have the

monster truck crush it over and destroy it. the monster truck jam is in town. laura, i bit you are sitting there thinking about the santa claus doll you have dressed up in the chef's outfit. will you have that destroyed as well? >> what, the santa claus guy? >> reporter: this thing right here. >> oh. >> are you going to have this destroyed in of course, i am. >> did your mother-in-law give you that? or an ex? >> reporter: i just found it at the tv station, it is not mine. but every time i'm in the cafeteria this thing is staring at me. and i can't tell you how many times i have wanted to take a baseball bat to it. it will be a lot more fun with a monster truck if i can find out who owns it, and will i get fired for destroyed it without permission first. bob.redell at nbcuni.com. we have something on the facebook page as well. we are looking for the photos

and e-mails. >> interesting. you can smash anything. >> reporter: well, there are some restrictions. i don't think they will let you smash your car, even though monster trucks smash cars, i don't think they want you to bring your car down to the oracle arena. but if you have something -- let's say you have a lamp, or a photo, something, just shoot me an e-mail. if you have something we are going to take a look at it, and i want a good story behind it. valentine's day was a couple weeks ago, so maybe you got dumped on valentine's and you got something from your ex that has been lingering in your house, give that up. >> i have a lot of nice jewelry, but i'm not giving that up. >> reporter: you better protect the items on your desk. thank, guys. time now is 6:51. if you think americans drink a lot, consider this. the world health organization

actually says the u.s. has one of the lowest drinking rates in the developed world. and "today in the bay's" kristen dahlgren is live in washington, d.c., taking a look at that and where california ranks in the studiful. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. this is not what the president was talking about in the state of the union about getting america to number one in the world. we are about, i think it is between 40th and 50th in the world when it comes to the amount of alcohol consumed. we are not doing too badly. the average american drank about 24 gallons of alcohol per year. that equals out to 470 pints of mild beer, but when you look at some other countries like in the u.k., british people drank 1100 pints of beer per year, so more than double the u.s. and then in russia it is up to 1,300 pints of beer per year. and 90 liters of vodka. russia was not number one on the

list. the dubious distinction went to moldova. looking at california, the average person in california consumes 23 gallons of alcohol per year. 19 gallons of that are beer, three gallons of that are wine, and one gallon of spirits. it was interesting, one of the things we noticed in states like vermont, delaware and nevada actually consume more wine than california. you would think that californians in wine country would be leading the nation in that, but they weren't. so interesting, nevada actually had the most alcohol consumption, 38 gallons per year per person. they were the biggest drinkers in the country. back to you. >> gallons of beverages is big-time stuff. maybe it adds up, but man, that's a lot. >> reporter: well, yeah. they are not drinking a gallon at a time. >> you don't know, there may be some. there's some good parties out there from what i hear.

from what i hear. thank you, kristen, appreciate it. brent, i was just looking it up. savethesanta.com is available. >> i am going to make bob upset. he was hoping to crush that thing. i wish that i could get access to this. scientists are this close to a major jump in speed for your wi-fi. they figured out how to make the wireless data send and receive data on the same frequency at the same time. kind of like listening and talking simultaneously. it works now but will take a couple years to get the standards approved to wi-fi. a huge scandal coming in from china. the ceo of alibaba.com has been dismissed along with 100 employees over fraud. alibaba is like a chinese e-bay. the allegations are that hundreds of vendors for the site were really just ripoff artists.

alibaba is the group partially owned by yahoo!. the founder jerry yang serves on the alibaba board. they run the chinese version of yahoo! sites. another disaster for yahoo! in china. back to you. not good. >> they have had some stuff times. >> certainly. checking in with christina to take a look at the big chill in the bay area this morning. yes, it is cold out there. and we have showers coming down this morning. the system of low pressure is moving into the northern-most portion of the state. it is kicking off shower activity. zucchini the little spin of showers coming off this low pressure. we will not see action all throughout the day today as we see a little trough digging in colliding with the big ridge of high pressure. so the showers are already falling apart as we speak. what we are expecting is a little bit of activity mostly before 11:00 a.m. by about 11:00 a.m. all the activity will start to push

offshore. we will stay mostly dry throughout the day today. it looks like a pretty nice second half of the day, sun and clouds with temperatures in the low 50s. looking even warmer tomorrow. then showers on the way once again thursday into friday. let's check that drive, if you've got to go to work today, hey, so do we. how is it looking out there, mike? if you are going to work, you have holiday traffic. that's good because highway 4 is not slowing. 61 still past love ridge all the way through the area from the alphabet letters. a smooth vooif through highway 4 and concord. the venetian and cartinas bridges, no problems in the commute direction south near venetian or west for the cartinas bridge. we have an issue north of there with showers. we'll look at 101 through the north bay with a chance for frozen fog as well as maybe some black ice, no problems reported from 101 or 37 coming down towards the richmond bridge. a live look at the chopper shows 101 at 92 very light. the bay bridge, hardly any traffic. no metering lights. it is presidents' day, isn't it?

>> it is indeed. as a matter of fact, we have a few fun facts for you. >> we'll wrap up the morning with a few presidents' day facts for you. it is kind of interesting. for starters, this is not presidents' day. the official day is gorge washington's birthday. the government moved it from his actually birthday the 22nd to the third monday in february. >> it can never a actually be on washington's birthday. congress set the day to honor abraham lincoln as well. by the way, abraham lincoln has his own state holiday on february 12th, but only in california and six other states. that's the state holiday, not the federal one. >> now car dealerships and stores have presidents' day sales in honor. have a great day. ey -- now, tha. call or click today.