there are lots of reasons to keep it slow on your way to work this morning. we are going to check in with the road crews on this rainy, rainy friday. and your password is not as private as you think. the three things you are doing to leave your password hints vulnerable. a live look outside this morning. yeah, i would call in sick, too. the bay bridge, rainy, cold and yucky. it is friday, february 25th. this is "today in the east bay." good morning, everyone. i'm scott mcgrew.

it is 4:30. we'll go right to christina loren. no snow so far, christina, but lots of cold rain. lots of cold rain coming down, and we are keeping the snow in the forecast. flakes at sea level, flurries. we'll talk more about that heading throughout the morning. here's what's happening in the east bay. we have some pretty heavy rain coming down from the south bay through the east bay as i zoom in where you can see where the showers are heaviest this morning. it looks like heading through the next several hours we'll see the heaviest rain. then heading into this afternoon showers will start to subside a little bit. take a look at this, the moderate rain just pushed through danville. livermore getting drenched right now. antioch, a pretty good cell to the north. we'll keep updating you and tell you what to expect when it comes to snow in the east bay. i looked at the models this morning, those are coming up. let's go to mike inouye on your drive into work this morning. the cartinas and venetian bridges is seeing slowdowns. 780, the rain plays with the

sensors quite a bit, i'll be sorting that out all morning long. a smooth drive into the east bay so far. eastbound 880 is closed heading over to tahoe at applegate because of a spinout and a downed tree. we are looking at the east shore freeway, there's a truckee scale. look at the live conditions, even the scales are snowed. don't plan on getting to tahoe right now. we'll give you updates throughout the morning. stay close, mike. it could be a long day for you. drivers are bracing for a tough day of work this morning. the caltrans crews are working a 12-hour shift to make sure the roads are safe. we were at one of the maintenance yards last night in san jose when the teams of two got their orders. >> we don't expect a lot in the way of snow, it could happen, but it would be a fluke. this is what we take care of any time we have a storm, be prepared to clear the drapes. they are not plugged up so much

by mud and leaves as they are litter. >> lookout for icy roads on 17, 35 and 29. rain, snow, big chill, whatever. we want to see it when it happens. send us your weather pictures to weatherpic@nbcbayarea.com. we will share the best pictures with you later in the day. a hearing this morning will decide if repeat sex offender cary verse will return to jail indefinitely. prosecutors say the most revent incident is just proof of his patter of deception. they want the judge to lock up verse for good. earlier this month verse was arrested for sexually harassing somebody in his therapy session. the state considers verse a violent sexual predator. the chauncey bailey trial will stay in alameda county. the judge in the case refusing to grant a change of event you. lawyers for yurks yusef bay iv

argued he couldn't get a fair trial because of widespread publicity. prosecutors say bay ordered the death of chauncey bailey because the writer was going to expose internal conflict within the bakery and the impending bankruptcy. a story that will enrage any decent person. you recall matthew miller died last weekend when he drowned in a drainage canal in walnut creek. while the family attended the funeral somebody broke into their home. the walnut creek neighbors are outraged. the millers have received incredible support from the community and are focusing on the outpouring of love rather than the burglary. their son would have turned 17 yesterday. a scandal that shoot the livermore community has closure this morning. a 42-year-old soccer mom accused of having sex with young boys

pleaded no contest. christine hubbs pleaded no contest to unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, three lewd counts on a child in exchange prosecutors dropped 60 felony sex charges against her. hubbs will be sentenced next month to five years in prison. once she's released she'll have ten years of parole and will have to register as a sex offender. this morning police need your help tracking down the man who robbed a concord credit union. take a look at the picture. this is surveillance video of the man entering the metro one credit union just after 1:00 yesterday afternoon and demanded money from the teller. he left the bank, driving away in a white-four door car. anyone with information is urged to call the concord police. plans to build a luxury housing development in pleasanton's southeast hills will not go forward. voters said no three years ago. the developer took it to court where a judge agreed with the voters. the planned called for 51 homes

on 67 acres owned by the builder at the end of hertz drive in pleasanton. a new report shids shines light on what schools spend money on. the pepperdine school says the brentwood union allocated 3/4 its money towards classroom spending. that's more than any district in contra costa or alameda counties. brentwood performed well in the state performance index. all of one of the middle schools tested as proficient. it is going to be a heck of a day out there. it is rainy, it is cold, it is messy. we'll go to christina to find out how long it will last. it will last for a while. if it lasts through tomorrow morning, we are talking about historic conditions. the 26th of february will go down as a historic date. when it comes to weather, we'll show you why. right now the east bay looks pretty good. the most of the rainfall, the heaviest rain is coming down in the south bay. as i zoom in, you can see pretty

good cell on the way to concord right now. you have moderate rain headed your way here in the next 10 to 15 minutes. also danville, watch out for pretty dangerous driving conditions as it has been raining all night. take a look at what we are picking up in the east bay on the snow models. that's right, it looks to snow in livermore if everything times out just right. in fact, the national weather service is now onboard for snow levels to fall down to 400 feet. we'll tell you what that means for the rest of the weekend and who else in the east bay can expect the white stuff coming up. back to you. all right, christina. we are watching for that snow perhaps in livermore as you are tracking that. right now we are also tracking that rain. you mentioned concord coming up through antioch and probably hitting the antioch bridge, keep in mind highway 4 is getting hit hard the next few minutes as well as concord, the east bay hills, san ramon, danville, 680 near the dublin interchange. no major issues on 580, but flooding reported on the highways on and off overnight. a 14-minute drive here.

travel times around the maze looking good so far, but as the traffic picks up we are bound to hear more reports of trees down and more flooding on the sides of the roadway. stay to the middle of the highway if you can. we'll take a live look at the bottom of the screen here, this is 880. the camera is shaking quite a bit because of gusty winds. and the glowing lights because of the water on the windshield. i drove down 880 and there were periods with a thin layer of water all the way across. the car lost traction, it is a little scary there. >> everybody needs to slow down. you and i who tell everybody, we kind of forget sometimes. >> definitely. note to self. coming up from your bank card to credit card, your passwords are more private than you think. plus the three things you are not doing that thieves are taking advantage to steal your most private secrets. could technology be holding your kids back? the basic skills they are surprisingly lacking in the classroom. we'll show you what one teacher is doing with the problem. here's a live picture of the

bay bridge and the toll plaza. it is yucky. slow down.

i was told that i was at risk for sudden cardiac death. i was 23 years old, i wasn't overweight. i never dreamed this would happen to me. when the doctor told me i had three blocked arteries, i felt like i was punched in the gut. i found out that one in three women die from heart disease. how did i not know that? it is 4:41. you are looking at a live

picture of the oracle arena. the warriors are back in town. we'll touch on them in a minute. meanwhile, things are looking better on wall street as fears of skyrocketing oil prices ease a bit. for that we'll turn to cnbc's worldwide anchor nicole lapin. good morning, nicole. >> reporter: good morning, scott. it was a seesaw session for oil yesterday as prices reacting to rumors about what was going on in libya. oil went from a high of $103 a barrel to $97. it is near $98 this morning. the international energy agency called on opec to draw on excess oil capacity to make up for long-term losses of libyan supplies. now the saudis said they could also do that. that is definitely what markets are watching today, but futures are higher this morning after wall street closed well off its lows yesterday. asia markets were also higher overnight. europe is also in the green. and today we look ahead to a revision of fourth-quarter gdp. it will show the economy grew a

bit more than previously thought last fall. we also get news on consumer sentiment and earnings from jcpenney. the dow closed down 37 points to 12,068. the nasdaq composite rising 14, that was the big winner, that was tech. 2737 is where we closed. and good news this morning on a friday. i mean, why not? a new survey from consulting firm hewitt associates shows workers will get the biggest pay increase since the start of the financial problems. earnings were up 2.7% last year, but it is shy from the 3.7% average from before the recession. and companies are turning to the web and social media to generate buzz for pucket products they are advertising during the oscars saturday night. a 30-second ad is estimated to cost $1.75 million. proctor and gamble signed jlo to

be the face for their venus shavers last month. unilever is kicking off a campaign for the new dove body wash with an online contest to dance that will air during "dancing with the stars." and best buy is letting people vote on the alternative ending to justin bieber's ad that ran during the super bowl. that winner airs during the oscars. so there you go. >> so am i going to see you on monday? >> i don't know if you are a bieber fan. >> i'm a huge fan. are you back on monday? >> yeah. >> all right. give me your oscar prediction. >> i'm scared. i was like, what am i signing up for? >> yeah, best picture. >> okay. fine. best picture, "social network." >> there you go. >> that's my final answer. i have to, you are in silicon valley. >> i'll go contrary and go with "black swan." i haven't seen it. >> i couldn't tell that you

didn't see it. okay, good. the bet is on. >> that and the bieber movie. have a good weekend, nicole. christina loren, go ahead. vote your favorite. >> i just hope your bieber fever keeps you warm today, scott, because it is cold out there. and i have to take your back, "black swan." things are looking pretty good. we don't have any snow, just some rain coming down. just some moderate precipitation coming down in san jose. when it comes to the east bay, if you are waking up in livermore, danville or concord it has been raining over your household pretty much for the past eight hours. this is what it looks like with a moderate cell pushing to danville and 680. concord is getting good rain. all the moisture will continue to push onshore heading throughout the day today. i think this afternoon showers will start to subside just a little bit. but now our models will actually pick up snow in livermore as we head through the early portion of saturday morning. this is what i'm thinking.

take you through my thought process here. temperatures are going to drop to 31 degrees in livermore. 480 feet, snow. danville and dublin, you are below 500 feet. however, your temperatures are going to be cold enough for a dusting of snow. and everybody, of course, is talking about whether or not it will snow in san francisco at 52 feet. that's the elevation of city hall. 35 degrees, definitely cold enough for some flurries. will tomorrow morning be historic? we are all just going to have to wait and find out. i know i'm pretty excited. i'll be seeing or saying "great scott" if it happens. the warriors run tonight on comcast sports net bay area at 7:30. st. mary's has a shot at the wwc title. unfortunately the gales couldn't beat gonzaga. that means both teams are tied for first in the conference.

st. mary's has one more game this season against portland. starting today thousands of bay area teams will starve themselves so others will not go hungry. teachers in contra costa county will go without food for today and tomorrow to get a taste of hunger. part of the world vision 30-hour famine. local groups hope to raise more than $225,000. the money will go to help feed and care for children living in extreme poverty all over the world. technology has made life a lot more convenient but it could be holding back your child's development. some teachers say when kids spend time on the computer, watching tv or playing video games they are not out building basic skills. amy west shows us how one teacher revamped her entire curriculum to deal with that problem. >> i think you can do that. >> reporter: you won't find computers in this pre-k class at st. michaels, but you'll find activities building motor skills. >> it started when the children came in and they started not being able to hold their crayons

or their markers or pencils correctly. >> reporter: the cause? she says it is too much technology, computers, ipods or video games. >> our thumbs are very strong because we are using our thumbs a lot to do -- then we have our hand here, but it doesn't help us with our fine motor to hold the pencil and to actually write. >> reporter: four years ago fanny revamped her entire curriculum to include special games that build motor skills, threading yard, bouncing on balls, building planes. even this chalkboard is part of fanny's curriculum. she says the friction of the chalk against the board helps to build dexterity and muscle memory to help them hold pencils to learn to write. something a white board doesn't do. but the problem goes further, affecting social skills and creativity. >> you realize number one the children didn't know how to play. and they didn't know how to interact socially with other children. >> they are not out playing with kids in the neighborhood, they are sitting in front of the tv playing games.

>> reporter: christa plant did her graduate studies on children's sleep patterns and says technology is costing kids hours of sleep. >> it is huge, it affects them academically, socially, behaviorally and all over because they are lacking sleep because they are staying up too late playing video games. >> reporter: as more kids start schooling without the basic skills teachers have to dial back their lessons. >> we are learning to address those first before we push the academics. >> they just don't have the skills that we all took for granted. >> so mike and i were watching this and thinking, yeah, it is probably true. i have a teenager and i can tell you that the texting, it is about three minutes between texts. so whatever he's doing, homework, anything else, then a text, constant interruptions. >> it would be an issue with attention as well. you talk about focus. i was telling you that we went outside to toss a ball around the other day and realized i don't know how long it has been since i have been outside tossing a ball, he's using a

stylus so he knows how to do that. >> not a good day to toss a ball this morning. >> you would be blowing out of the way. first of all, here's a live look at the bay bridge. you have been talking about it in technical terms, yucky. you are right. look at the puddling. the camera is shaking as it is mounted to the top of the plaza there. the wet roads, just an 18-minute drive off the cartinas bridge. we are noting for folks coming over the bridges, you will get caught with a gust or two. the off-ramps will see spinouts possible. another spinout reported in many or all areas of the bay area reported over the last hour. they were reported and cleared pretty quickly. watch the speeds continue to increase and the volume increases over the morning commute. a nice drive at highway 24 and 680 through danville where christina said we have seen rain for eight hours. 580 near the altamont pass, a

smooth drive here. opposite heading eastbound near the tahoe area through central valley is looking good, but once you get to the summit you are screened at applegate. no trespassing near applegate heading over to truckee. that's not possible from the bay area. this is a live shot of interstate 80 at truckee. you can't get from truckee to 880 because of the spinouts and closures. not a good time to go skiing, you can't right now. i imagine we'll join laura garcia-cannon. that's your focus for the rest of the morning. >> it certainly is. we have problems all over the bay area with the storm moving into the bay area. we have them up in napa to the santa cruz mountains. we are even on the highest peak in san francisco where people could see flurries for the first time in decades. of course, christina is watching the forecast for us tracking the biggest cells as they move through this morning. mike is all over the bay area roadways this morning. oh, are you just hearing me

right now for the first time, honestly? >> we always listen. we always listen. laura is covering the story big time. be warned, your passwords are not being as secure as you first thought. the security questions asking for your mother's maiden name, odds are people know them. they are online because you put them there. social media sites now are the number one target for identity theft. "today in the east bay's" vicky nguyen takes us in-depth. >> we are going to break this down into what i call light fillets. >> reporter: when this chef isn't butchering his latest kill -- >> the deer has to be shot in the wild. >> reporter: he's updating his 55,000 followers on twitter. >> i think it is a great way to showcase food, i think it is a great way to speak your mind. >> reporter: it is also a great window into your personal life providing valuable information

to cyber crooks. norton security expert travis wilkins says social media sites like twitter and facebook are a data goldmine. they are rich with details that can crack your passwords. >> people use passwords to represent things personal and meaningful to them, but that's the same information they put on social networking sites. >> reporter: you know the drill, log on to a bank, a credit card or your e-mail and a lot of the sites ask for security questions so they can reset your password the you forget. the problem is the answer to many of these questions, your best friend's name, your favorite book, where you honeymooned may be online for crooks to steal. >> cyber criminals want to steal any type of information they can sell for money. >> reporter: norton profiled celebrities to show how easy it is to find private information on the internet. they quickly dug up shaq's current address, lady gaga's mother's maiden name, pet names, high schools, siblings' names, pieces of the puzzle that don't

seem like much until you put them together and create a profile that gives crooks a passport into your identity. your wife's name is tatiana? >> yep. >> reporter: we asked them to create a profile. your anniversary, october 5, 2000? >> interesting. >> reporter: he was surprised that was public but then realized he tweeted about it during a night out. chris is careful about what he shares but still the target of a malicious hacker who used a virus to attack his e-mail, spend out span and infect his website. >> as soon as that opened it started sending e-mails out, and then on top of it it crashed my phone and started eating my website through the backside. >> reporter: norton experts say to protect yourself with three simple steps. create your own security question when you have the option and answer with something only you know. edit the personal information you share online. your hometown, your high school, children's names, and don't rely on privacy settings for protection. once you post something online consider it fair game. >> if you put any information

online, even if you think it is secure, it could be on the front page of tomorrow's newspaper because ultimately that's likely what is possible. >> reporter: think of it as the headline of the era of social media sharing and oversharing. what happens online stays online. vicky nguyen, nbc bay area news. >> somebody hacked paris hilton's phone that way. norton experts say victims of identity theft spend $100 of personal time dealing with damages. they say prevention is the best protection. well, tonight on nbc bay area news too common of a crisis, city budgets all over the state in the red, but while many communities are looking to cut back one community is thriving through. i bet you can guess how. well, tonight at 11:00 garvin thomas takes you to a tiny town definitely thinking green. coming up, missing for years. the clue a mother found in her son's closet that could reveal what happened to jeanine harms. and a live look at the golden gate bridge from the

north bay. we could get snow this weekend. we'll have live reports from all over the bay area inus t minutes. brent and laura are coming up on the backside of this break.

new this morning the state agency investigating a local transit agency over safety concerns. and a live look outside this morning. the south bay, san jose, no snow yet on lower elevations, but we are getting reports of snow in

the east bay hills already. we are on storm watch this morning. today is friday, february 25th, "today in the bay." good morning to you. thank you for joining us. i'm laura garcia-cannon. >> and i'm brent cannon. coming up on 5:00, the big story is the strong weather system moving through the bay area right now. we want to get the very latest on this with meteorologist christina loren tracking the storm. we have some pretty good cells hitting. oh, yeah. especially in the south bay where it is just pouring. i want to point out a little bit of pink in the east bay hills. the snow level is dropping this morning. right now it is at about 1,000 feet. as we head through the next couple of hours our temperatures are going to drop. the coldest point of the day is just before sunrise, so just before 7:00 a.m. we still have