find out how you can prevent heart disease. new this morning, get ready to pay more at the pump. gasoline hitting $4 a gallon and counting. we'll have that story coming up of what's behind it all. california's high-speed rail route shifts to the east bay. will it be coming to your town? we'll tell you where you can weigh in on the decision today. plus a police officer caught on tape beating a man. was it justified? a live look outside this morning. get your warm jacket out. the cold weather not letting up. it is thursday, february 24th. this is "today in the east bay."

good morning, everyone. i'm scott mcgrew. it is 4:30 in the morning. let's check your forecast with christina loren. good morning. i almost didn't recognize you looking so studious this morning. we are looking at the temperature charts this morning. we have an issue, will it snow at sea level? i think the east bay hills will be covered in snow as we wake up on saturday morning. so keep that in mind. but right now it is 43 degrees in concord. 40 in livermore. and 43 degrees up in napa. let me show you our weather maker because it is creating showers in the northern-most portion of the state. heading throughout the afternoon our showers will probably start right around noon. partly cloudy conditions until then. showers arrive between noon and 1:00 in the east bay. then tonight snow levels fall to 1,000 feet. tomorrow morning, 500 feet. we'll tell you which cities can expect the snow coming up.

let's find out what to expect on the roadways right now. good morning, mike. right now no snow, we are clear. we are looking at the maize with a nice flow, highway 24 we need to watch the speeds. we always urge you to slow for the cone zone. eastbound 92 has cleared. westbound 92 out of hayward on to the san mateo bridge is still blocked. you have to transition a little farther to the south. it will take another half hour to reroute. we'll let you know when it clears. back to you. if you slow down you'll save money on gas. crude oil prices hovering near $100 a barrel. we face the very real possibility of seeing gas prices higher than $4 a gallon very soon. "today in the east bay's" christie smith is live at one of the stations already very close.

good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, scott. this is not pretty, the best gas at this shell station in west oakland is already just about hovering at $4 a gallon. i have to tell you, i took a quick look at the pumps here and it doesn't seem like people are filling up, just getting $5 or $10 and moving on. this is coming at a time when the economy in california is shaky. gas prices continue to jump. the uprising in libya set the groundwork for record-setting prices yesterday. one energy analyst says the uncertainty in libya is sparking concerns this could lead to oil shortages in europe, meaning europe has to look elsewhere for gasoline. the worst-case scenario is if instability hits saudi arabia and iran. then we'll be wishing for the $4 bargain days of gasoline. in that case u you could see $5 or $6. you have others who say there's really not much you can do with

this. drivers probably won't hit the panic button. they will just cut back in other areas and make due. i have to say, we have only been here 30 minutes this morning and have not seen anyone yet pull in for gasoline. reporting live in oakland, christie smith, "today in the east bay." thank you. hundreds of people in a small community are remembering two teens whose lives were tragically cut short. last night a candlelight vigil in walnut creek. friends and relatives gathering to pay tribute to the las lomas high school students who died in a rain-swollen creek when rafting over the weekend. >> matt was the kind of kid you can see running for president. gavin was just always an adventurous kind of guy who put a smile on his face no matter what the situation. >> i'm pretty sure some kids would have been in the creek next week or after that will not be there now. >> matthew miller and gavin powell died when they drowned after heading into a treacherous

area of the creek. oakland police are asking for your help in finding a man who could be a sex assault suspect. a surveillance video shows a man assaulting a woman at an apartment complex at jackson and eighth street. the man sexually assaulted the woman and beat her on february 7th. if you recognize this picture the oakland police ask that you give them a call. the man accused of killing chauncey bailey wants the hearing moved out of the county. yusef bay iv could be charged with three murders including the deadly shooting of bailey. a third suspect in the case agreed to plea bargain in exchange for testimony. this morning ten people under arrest after a raid in a tough oakland neighborhood. police targeting 59 different locations where those on probation live or visit. the area is known as b-26

bordered by 54th avenue and san leandro street. this area has more burglaries than any other area of the same size. parents complain that their children walk through prostitution and drug-dealing hot spots. a sex offender will find out today if he'll spend the rest of his life in jail, cary verse. he is accused of sexually a what racing somebody from his therapy class. you may remember verse assaulted four young men between '88 and '92. he was chemically castrated and then found it difficult to find a place to live. he was met with opposition, few wanted him living in their area. the future of california's high-speed rail line shifts to the east bay today. rail leaders will hold a public hearing on routes for an 87-mile

rail length from stockton to traci. tray are studying routes through tracy and union. the leaders say they would welcome the projects to revisitize their downtowns. pleasanton said it would upset their scenic city. the meeting is tonight at the tracy transit station in tracy. today several properties will be transferred from the redevelopment agency to another city agency. they want to maintain control of the redevelopment fund in case the governor moves forward with his plan to get rid of california's redevelopment agencies. there's a meeting tonight at 6:00 in city council chambers in pa noelle. meanwhile, let us talk to -- who are we talking to? christina, yes, good morning. cold, cold out there. >> let us get who we are talking to right this morning. good morning to you.

you are always right in my book, scott mcgrew. and hey, if we get this forecast right, i'm going to be very, very pleased. because it looks like places like livermore, where it doesn't usually snow, danville, you are included in this equation, i think we'll see some snowflakes on your city floor as we head through this weekend. we've got a really cold system on the way to the bay area. and the timing looks just right for this thing to drop some flakes as we head through the coldest part of your saturday morning. so temperatures right now are forecasted at 31 degrees in livermore on saturday morning. yeah, i think we are going to get some snow. send us your pictures if it happens. we want to see the snow in your backyard. this is what we are talking about. a really cold system, you see all the spotty clouds, that's an indication of just how cold this air mass is. now as we head through tonight we are looking at a winter storm warning in place for elevations above 1,000 feet. so the east bay hills, maybe some snow as of tonight. snow levels will fall to 500 feet as we head into saturday

morning. and so that means livermore, yeah, you could have some snow right in your yard. we'll talk to traffic now and find out how it is looking on the roadways. good morning, christina. i'm talking traffic as well. traffic whisperer right now. 69 through antioch, highway 4, no issues westbound. a nice flow, but you are talking about the east bay hills, you could see snow through the areas here as well. we'll track that carefully through the weekend. the venetian and cartinas bridges, a smooth flow into the east bay. out of the east bay for the cartinas and venetian bridges are a smooth flow as well. watch the colder temperatures, you never know what you will find out there. we'll look at the bay bridge toll plaza before we get to the map, we have a nice flow here. no major issues down the east shore freeway. you are at the limit. an 18-minute drive off the cartinas i showed you earlier. south on 880 is moving smoothly past the coliseum. a light volume of traffic with headlights past the coliseum. prince performs again last

night. good stuff. then the dumbarton bridge into the east bay eastbound there's still a couple lanes blocked by construction heading over to newark and fremont. keep that in mind. that's cleared by 6:00 with a light volume of traffic, but a few cars are going slower. back to you. coming up, caught on tape. an officer beats a man as he lies on the ground handcuffed. you may not know his name, but a little boy will affect every single driver in the state of california. you are looking at a live picture of the bay bridge. it is chilly out there, bundle up. we are back in a minute. 3q

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it is 4:43. you are looking at a live picture of an empty gas station in west oakland. we have been talking about gas prices coming up on $4 a gallon. you have problems in saudi arabia, then it could go up to $5, $6 or more. caught on tape, a police officer is out of a job after being caught using unnecessary force. the dash cam shows the officer using his hands and the flashlight. there you can see it hit the head of a suspect who had fallen during the struggle. the police officer was fired for using pepper spray and kicking the man as he was prone on the

ground handcuffed. the officer stopped the man because his license plates did not match his vehicle. apple expected to unveil the second generation of the ipad next wednesday. nicole lapin is at cnbc world headquarters with a snapshot of business before the opening bell. good morning, nicole. >> reporter: good morning, scott. futures have turned south this morning following yesterday's big market sell-off. and the big culprit is exactly what you were just talking about, oil prices, which are again spiking on the continued unrest in libya and fear that more production will be cut there and could also spread to neighboring algeria and even saudi arabia. as you rightly know that's the big dog supplying 10% of the world's crude oil. one research firm has speculated that if that were to happen oil would potentially soar past $200 a barrel. libya itself only produces 2% of the world's supply and eximportants very little to the u.s. but it is the quality that matters there. it drills light squeed crude

made into diesel used to power cars and trucks across europe. that means it will be near $100 in electronic trading. that's the highest it has been since 2008. brent crude is trading in london above $115. also making headlines the morning, the obama administration is pushing fur for a multi-billion settlement to lower the principal on hundreds of struggling loan owners. the wall street journal says some of the state's attorney general are trying to get the banks to pay more than $20 billion in several fines or fund a similar amount in loan modifications. regulators are looking to settle with as many as 14 mortgage services including the big ones, bank of america, jpmorgan and wells fargo. ford is recalling about 144,000 f-150 trucks in the

united states and canada. the model is 2005 and 2006. a short circuit could cause the air bags to deploy. ford received an unspecified number of complaints. in most cases the air bags deploying right after the trucks were started. now ford has recalled more than a million vehicles this year alone. switching gears a little bit, 3-d movies have helped boost global box office sales to a record hold of $31.8 billion last year. the motion picture association of america says most of the growth came in asia. u.s. box office receipts were pretty flat. ticket prices did go up, but attendance fell. so 3-d movies made up only 20% of all ticket sales. scott, not doing so great in the united states, so i wouldn't go out to buy the glasses just yet. >> well, with higher gas prices, too, nicole, you are going to see other ideas that people can do. they are not going to be able to

do them if they are paying at the pump. >> reporter: that's right. so hopefully you can buy your 3-d tv, i don't have one, you are much fancier in the technology realm than i am, but there you go, a little bit of nesting, shall we say. >> probably so. nicole lapin at cnbc world headquarters. meanwhile, christina loren has a look at your forecast. >> good morning, my disposable income is being saved for gas. we are looking at temperatures this morning that are very cold in some cities, not as cold as yesterday morning. it is still down right chilly in livermore right now, 40 degrees. 43 in concord. 42 degrees in fairfield. so this morning the reason why it is a little bit more mild is because we do have some clouds overhead. all courtesy of a system of low pressure that's going to bring us some very interesting weather as we head through the next few days. here it is. you can see snow levels are already very, very low. we've got some pretty interesting things happening as we head through the next couple

of days. first and foremost, when it comes to the east bay, 500 feet. i'm going to say roughly 450 feet to 500 feet you can expect snow showers on saturday morning. and if you do see the snow showers, we want to see your pictures. this is why i'm thinking it is going to fall to 500 feet. because we have snow levels tonight already at 1,000 feet. so the tops of the east bay hills will likely have a coating of snow when we wake up storm. now showers arrive late today. heading through 10:00 p.m. tonight that's when our snow level is expected to fall to 1,000 feet. tomorrow morning's commute looks dangerous. we'll continue to update you throughout the commute tomorrow morning in the east bay. but if you do have to get to work tomorrow make sure you tune in beforehand and let you know what's happening. snow levels fall to 500 feet heading into the first part of your saturday. we'll talk about what that means coming up. right now, i'm sending it back to scott. have you seen any snow in your backyard, scott? >> well, i used to live in salt lake city, so i saw all kind of snow in my backyard, i mean

pounds of snow. you are talking about the commute, that will affect tomorrow morning, mike. maybe ice on the bridges? that's right, scott. we'll look for that on smaller bridges in the north bay. there you go. we'll look over at the east bay hills out of the altamont pass and the hills through the east bay. you are talking about the smaller bridges in the north bay, wine country, that's what we are watching for in napa and solano county. a smooth drive out of the altamont pass with folks heading back from tahoe. 680 in both directions there's construction going on near the area. the maze, no major issues. a smooth drive. look at the 24 freeway showing you around the area of 77. watch the folks moving at the 65-mile-per-hour speed limit. we'll move down to the antioch area, a live shot out there shows you moving pretty clear. a live shot of the san mateo bridge here -- we don't have it.

the area from hayward still has construction going on for a few minutes heading over there off hayward city streets. back to you. the golden state warriors traded away a pair of big men in a move to dump expiring contracts. brandon wright and dan zurich were sent away. murphy's contract is also expiring. the nba's collective bargaining agreement ends this summer to hamper the teams making trades this season. st. mary gales have a chance to wrap up the top spot in their conference today. it will be moraga versus gonzaga tonight. a loss and the team can still share the conference title if it wins at home against portland on saturday. the gales are 22-6 this season. let's take a look at what's

coming up later on "today in the bay." that's brent cannon, good morning. >> first of all, we can say we are sure laura will be watching that game very closely. we are following a strange case out of novato. nib agents discovered a body buried in the backyard of an elderly man who has been missing for several months. no positive id yet but now they have some questions for his quif. wife. we'll update the scene coming up in a live report in a bit. and would an airport by any other name be more successful? yet another name change is being considered in san jose. we'll have that story and more in a few more minutes. scott? thank you much. each year hundreds of children are killed, thousands more injured by cars that are backing up. now cameras can help as jessica o'geary reports. >> he was a happy little boy. every day he would say to me, i love you.

>> reporter: elizabeth sandoval holds dear to the memories of her little boy, but seven years ago sandoval's life changed in an instant. >> in just seconds. >> it happened that fast? >> uh-huh. >> reporter: navid ran outside to a neighbor's house and sat down on the driveway. >> then the lady, she backed up. >> she didn't see him? >> reporter: even though it has been seven years since navid's death, her grief is raw. she is comforted by her two other children who never go a day without thinking about their brother. it is for her other children and for other parents why she's talking about one of the most difficult times in her life in hopes of getting backup cameras in all new vehicles. >> maybe he would still be

alive. >> reporter: the federal government is proposing backup cameras in all new vehicles by 2014. valley medical center in san jose sees some of the most serious backup accidents involving children. around ten a year. the hospital took part in a new study with seven other california trauma centers. from 2005 to 2007 85 were injured, nine of them died. >> for parents it is important to know that your child is runover, and there's no way using rear-view mirrors that there's not a child behind you. >> reporter: we wanted to see how much it helps to use a vehicle with a backup camera than without one. first this instructor gave me a few tips for backing up with whether you have a camera or not. >> first of all, go slow.

people are throwing it in reverse and start backing up. >> reporter: another important tip is to look over both shoulders and to use all the mirrors. in our test we placed a plastic-sized dummy a few feet behind my car. i then backed up without using the camera and i couldn't see a thing. right now if there were a kid mind me i would -- oh, my god. i ran something over. oh, my god. but without the camera i couldn't see anything at all looking over my left or my right shoulder. >> you have huge blind spots in the car. a lot is the backseat. >> reporter: next i turned on my backup camera. i'm starting to see something is there, and it does look like a child. we tested the camera on a clear night, but you can't just rely on the camera when backing up, especially in bad weather or when the sun causes a glare. check your surroundings for safety. >> if you are just relying on that and the lens is dirty or it

is inclement weather, then you are going to have even more of a chance to have an accident. >> reporter: but when the camera is clear experts say it can and does save lives. >> there's really no way with a our current cars and suvs to see what's behind you, so there's only one good way to be sure and that's to look behind the car with a camera. >> reporter: for elizabeth she'll do whatever it takes to put the brakes on the accident like the one that shorted her own son's life. >> it could save so many lives, i think. >> that was jessica o'geary reporting. the government estimates the backup cameras cost $1,000 to $1,200 extra per vehicle. if you want to see more on this report, go to nbcbayarea.com and look at backup vehicles test. coming up, the professional poker player accused of beating his parents to death in their east bay home. he goes before a jury again

today. we'll have some of the family's secrets revealed in court. brent and laura are coming up on the backside of this break.

nearly $4 a gallon and counting. how high will gasoline go? i'm christie smith. we'll tell you what the analysts

say, plus what's behind this coming up in a live report. plus, the san bruno explosion leads to a new plan that puts conditions on when utilities can raise your rates. and i'm bob redell live at normaneta. that story is coming up here when we tell you that mouthfull could get even bigger. and you are looking live here. this is "today in the bay." >> good morning, thank you for joining us. i'm laura garcia-cannon. >> and i'm brent cannon. just about 5:00. we want to start with christina and take a look at today's forecast. still continuing the cold ways. oh, yes. and every time i check i'm still on par with the 500-foot snow level in the bay area as we head into saturday morning. let's talk about today and what's happening right here, gh