the newest efforts to prevent a meltdown at the fukushima nuclear plant. a plume of radiation from those nuclear reactors heading to the west coast of the united states. i'm bob ra del. we'll tell you why the experts say you should not be concerned. that story coming up in a live report. good morning. i'm christie smith, we've reached a major milestone. work starts on the oak left-hand side of the fourth core of the caldecott tunnel. an update, plus, when will it be done? coming up in a live report. and a live look outside. the bay bridge on this st. patrick's day. it's thursday, march 17th. this is "today" in the bay. good morning to you. thanks for joining us. i'm laura. >> and i'm brent. >> get started with christina and check in with the forecast. >> yeah, good morning to you. we have a lot going on in the weather department. the good news is, we're going to

get a day of pretty dry weather. relatively dry weather for st. patrick's day. take a look at what's on its way for tomorrow, already creating very dangerous scenarios. we're expecting possible flooding tomorrow from a very strong system of low pressure, and also a high surf advisory. this is going to kick up some big-time swells as we head through tomorrow in particular. we're going to cover that for you all day. also, beach erosion with a high surf advisory will be problematic the next 24 to 48 hours. right now you can see showers are coming down to the north. sandwiched between systems. nice and dry, but as a result, cold this morning. temperatures in the 40s. we'll let you know where we're headed for later on toned and talk more about the timing and how much rain we're expecting from that system on the way for tomorrow. let's take you to work on time right now with mike inouye. >> good morning. a quick look at the livermore valley, yesterday an accident early in the commute caused big problems. so far so clear. let you know what we're watching for on the east bay and coming

over the water. the bay bridge, smooth indicators green, perfect for st. patrick's day. it's a thursday. back to you. >> thanks, mike. we do have new details, in fact, some of them just changing from japan this morning, where military helicopters are now being pulled away from the damaged nuclear reactor in japan. just a few hours after those same chopper, used combat-style tactics trying to contain the radiation. two chinook helicopters have been dumping at least four loads of seawater on to the damaged reactor, as you see here. those helicopters are now grounded as experts evaluate if the operation was successful. there are conflicting reports on the conditions at the plant. outside experts say the dumping of this water means there's no cooling water left at the plant. the japanese officials deny that claim. plant operators are racing now to try to finish a new power line as well that could restore the original cooling system in an attempt to try to slow the

nuclear reactor crisis and prevent a meltdown. also new this morning, the obama administration is ordering the first evacuations of americans out of japan. the state department says it will charter planes to help americans who want to escape potential radiation. a voluntary evacuation is also in place for the families of government workers who are living in tokyo and yokohama. the state department is warning about travel to southern japan. a lot of people are trying to displace south instead of leaving, because the changing weather conditions and wind conditions could push some of the radiation to the south there. so it may not be exactly safe there. and nuclear experts say the first plume of radiation from japan could reach the united states sometime today. "today in the bay" bob is with us. if people face health risks? good morning. >> reporter: good morning, laura. according to the experts, no. this government operates a

system of radiation monitors up and down the west coast including one located on the building behind me. this is the bay area air quality management district's offices here in san francisco. and so far, those monitors have not detected any elevated levels of radiation, but that could change with the next 24 hours. our computer model graded by the comprehensive test ban treaty organization and obtained by the "new york times" projects that the radiation plume from the damaged nuclear reactor from japan is projected to miss hawaii, but hit alaska's aleutian islands later today and then southern california by sometime tomorrow. eventually heading into nevada, utah and arizona. now, if you watch this animation, you can see that the plume reaches up into sacramento, but appears to avoid the bay area. even if the radiation were to float over our neck of the woods, this country's nuclear regulatory commission and at least one nuclear watchdog group expected the radiation to be

detectible but not dangerous. the cdc also expressing confidence that this would pose no health threat. scene in mind, that plume is expected to dilute as it travels the hundreds of miles from japan across the pacific ocean to the west coast of the united states. there are a couple of x factors. the weather patterns could change ultimately affecting the direction of this plume and this model does not send information about the actual levels of radiation in that plume. only its projected travel. keep in mind, back in the [ mutedthe mid80s, radiation hit the coast, took about 20 days and those measures were measurable but very small, ma minuscule did not pose a health risk. >> thank you, bob. we want to remind people, the u.s. regulatory commission

does not expect radiation levels to arrive on the west coast. the death toll of the disaster in japan is rising this morning. more than 5,300 people confirmed dead. that number is expected to grow to well over 10,000 people. more than 450,000 people are staying in emergency shelters. today local communities in the south bay are teaming up to help the victims of the japanese earthquake and tsunami. the japantown community congress of san jose. all donations go directly to the consulate of japan for relief efforts. san jose police are searching for a suspect who shot a man outside of a mcdonald's restaurant. officers say a gunman walked up to a man in this 20s outside of the restaurant yesterday during lunch. he shot the man once and then fled the scene. the victim was rushed to a nearby hospital, valley medical center. he is reported to be in critical

condition. police don't have very many dames about the suspect. several nearby schools were on lockdown for a short time after that shooting. this morning, state regulators are threatening to fine pg&e $1 million a day. utility has not handed over enough of its records in the wake of the san bruno explosions. specifically, the state committee says the utility hasn't turned over records that would determine if the pressure levels in gas pipes are safe. at a meeting toes the commission could stroet fine pg&e $20,000 for every violation which could total $1 million a day. pg&e insists it has turned over more than 90% of its key records on thousands of miles of gas pipelines throughout the state. a major milestone in a project to expand the caldecott tunnel gets started today and today the bay's christie smith is live in oakland with a look what's happening next and if all will impact your morning commute.

christie? >> reporter: good morning to you. well, you know, this is literally a breakthrough. so far all the work has been going on on the orinda side, but a year after breaking ground, they're literally changing directions. the lights, the workers, the equipment, they've started up here on the oak left-hand side. th -- the oakland side. eastbound in the morning is what we're talking about and westbound in the afternoon. it will get rid of the need to switch the direction of traffic flow in the middle core. since breaking ground, a giant excavation machine has been digging out the new tunnel to widen highway 24. so far more than 900 feet has been dug. when it's complete, this tunnel will be 3,400 feet long. the cost of all this, about $391 million. certainly sounds like a lot, but it actually went down due to lower bids that came in. it's tedious and risky work with

falling rocks and natural gas inside. so anything that could cause a spark certainly not allowed. if you're driving by, it probably won't impact you. there's a wall there. so it's actually kind of hard to even see it. but the whole thing is expected to be done by late 2013 and the media will get a look at all this a little later this morning. reporting live in oakland, christie smith, "today in the bay." >> good news. moving along fairly quickly and not delaying your commute. good news. double good news. what's about a storm moving into our area. let's check in with christina. >> a big one this time. the reason we're so concerned about this next big storm is because we've had rain each and every day this week. today a nice break. partly cloudy conditions, maybe, just maybe, a few light scattered showers, but if anything, it won't be heavy. and they'll clear out quickly. today doesn't look that bad. it's tomorrow that our focus really bull's eyes the system of low pressure here. you can see it's very organized.

clouds wrapping around counterclockwise rotation could produce up to two inches of rain in the north bay, if it moves quickly. if it stalls out, we could see major flooding tomorrow. that's our concern for today. today we're starting out really, really cold because we're inside two pockets here. a system of low pressure to the north and the jet stream to the south. nice and clear, sandwiched between systems here in the bay area. as a result those clear skies have brought the 30s back into our forecast. and fortunately, it's really cold out there this morning, unfortunately. seen 50s each and every morning this week. you'll need the heavy jacket. 31 in a napa. 43 in san jose. with the breaks of sunshine we do see today, sun and clouds, 60 degrees in oakland. 62 in los gatos. we're talk about when we're expecting that system to drop and how much rain we're expecting in your area coming up. get you to work on time on this st. patrick's day. the luck ever the irish. >> thank you for bringing that part of my family history into

it. just kidding. looking at the 60s as well. 66 coming out of antioch and then down into the 30s. the reverse of your forecast, christina here. that's antioch, no problems out of the east bay hills. big winds yesterday, today pretty calm. looking at the east shore freeway, an 18 minute drive. no major issues through the maze. 71, progress on the caldecott tunnel, great, not affecting your commute this morning. a smooth drive for the northbound commute, direction and reminder for the south, south of carmel, highway 1 closed. we'll talk more about that. back to you. >> it's huge. thank you very much. time now, 5:11. details about the new class that prepares people for a potential disaster. it's right here in the bay area coming up. and meet had the local duo asked to help with rescue efforts, like the one in japan. a look at what it's like. and march madness does not just have sports fans happy.

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the nuclear crisis in japan continues to have a roller coaster fete on stock markets around the world. nicole lapin is live at cnbc's headquarters with that and the rest of your news before the bell this morning. good morning, nicole. >> reporter: good morning, brent. wall street could be poised for a modest rebound, though, today after yesterday's sharp sell-off. the dow fell nearly 300 points during the session in very volatile trading driven, of course, by news and fears over japan's nuclear crisis. japanese stocks have fell for a third time in four days today, but did pair their losses with the nikkei down 12% this week. europe is higher. i should note right now. that could trickle over to us. but we do get a fair bit of

economic data this morning, including biggies with consumer prices, which is cpi, unemployment and manufacturing. also we had fedex report strong earning as well, a bellwether for the u.s. economy. making headlines this morning, x marks the spot for pepsico. the company is planning a major tv ad campaign surrounding the new show "x factor" debuting on fox later this year. reports say pepsly spend up to $70 million. think about it. it's pitting itself against coke, the main sponsor of sim simon's old show "american idol." i don't know if you heard about it. march midness begins. >> tried to watch that. the triplets never let us. they want to watch cartoons. >> right. they can't text and vote yet which is probably a good thing. >> no. >> keep them away from that. >> yeah. thanks, nicole, appreciate it. a south bay city wants to help people all over the area

get ready for the next big disaster. cuperti cupertino's office of emergency services is offering training for people who want to become part of the emergency response team or otherwise known at cert. they will learn about fire training. if you live in cupertino, sign up and take the classes for free. there's a fee for non-residents. classes start today and run through early april. go to cupertino's emergency website for more details. so much help is going on and the bay area has a lot of people trained to help out during an emergency. michelle vaughan is one of them along with comet. beautiful dog, right down here. teams that are actually out in gentleman spa japan helping to, help find people during this disaster. and you're already hearing word, there are teams over there right now. you just heard word from them yesterday. >> yes. >> about what's going on. >> yeah. we actually talked to one of our

lead handlers out there with l.a. county's task force and it has begun to show. in some aspects makes it more difficult, makes the ground more slippery and harder to see things. the cooler weather is actually better for the dogs to work in. they can work them longer and harder and there's lots to search in. they are working them, searching long and hard. the cooler weather actually is kind of a benefit for them. >> and talk to us a little about comet. comet's a border collie. >> 7-year-old border collie donated from an l.a. firefighter to the search dog foundation, and the search dog foundation puts a basic training on all the search dogs and then partner them with firefighter or first responders and we take the training from there and become certified. once you're fema certified you're deemployable aployable a

out. >> and different from assisting the blind and whatnot. these dogs kind of have not aggressive personalities, i imagine, they're unique to the work that they do? >> a search and rescue dog, what make as good search and rescue dog is usually a dog that is not a good house pet. >> i got one of those for you. >> although he looks very calm, he's -- >> smart dogs. >> a very nice on/off switch. with all the training that's what they become. however, most of the dogs involved with search and rescue, come from shelters, and the foundation rescues them from the shelters and turns them into rescuers. they eat through drywall, climb through ten-foot chain-link fences. not good house pets. >> that aggressiveness, that's what i men. not mean, but they're going, hyperactivity. >> they're hyper dogs. >> that's wonderful. >> not today. comet's very well natured here on the set. thank you so much for the work that you do, and for getting up early this morning.

>> you're welcome. >> it's interesting to see how the bay area is helping out as we. thanks. >> you're welcome. >> good day to walk the dog. maybe early before the rain hits. hey, christina? >> right. might be one of your last dry days to walk your dog, otherwise, using the yo-yo walking the dog indoors. sandwiched this morning. clear skies as a result. you can see clear conditions prevail over the bay area now. that's the case for the first part of the day. then the clouds are going to slowly roll in as we head throughout this afternoon. we're not expecting a major rain. any significant rainfall until probably tomorrow morning. really amplifying as we head through tomorrow afternoon and tomorrow evening. got a major system on the way. but we're going to get a nice day out of it today and it's a holiday. the luck of the irish is with us this morning. you can see, it's a very strong system already pushing into the northern most portion of california, and the pick northwest. you can see we also have a lot of stability associated. lightning. i think we might see hail and some thunderstorms in our area

tomorrow. but what we're noticing today as that system does get closer to us is producing very large swells. so we have a high surf advisory in place for today and tomorrow. dangerous conditions out at the beaches. 42 degrees in oakland. 42 in concord. over to the 50s and 60s for today. 62 in redwood city. 62 in los gatos. a lot of concern about the air quality. i just checked with the bay area air quality management district, and they're forecasting good air quality for our area the next few days. that forecast could change, but i do want it ease your mind as much as i can. your extended forecast is coming up. back to you guys. >> thanks a lot. meantime, it's 5:20. we continue to follow the news out of japan. back in a few more minutes with that. as we get you set up for your south bay commute, things looking smooth for 280. theth lt onh ugarroosur r through the area. "know the species, know the stain." lanolin-free coat, i know it's an alpaca. walks in here, looks says "hey look, it's a llama!" cleaning the stain like he would a llama stain. time he's wasting. ♪ call 1-800-steemer th

this morning seven air force planes will take to the skies in hor horner of the seven planes. at travis air force base in a few hours. these seven globemaster planes named ar fairfield, susan city, vacaville, dixon, benecia and vallejo and rio vista. it's possible the planes will be put on standby for relief efforts in japan. checking in with mike a peek at your forecasting commute there you go. i am. talking about, friend. you're right. 580. 71 over at airway. your off ramp from the eastbound side because for till la avenue has closed earlier this week. a 13-minute drive. forecasting a slowdown to start

before 6:00 coming out of the all tamont pass. typical pattern. yesterday, big problems. it's stable now. looking at 680 and 880 through hayward and fremont, letters for the city, city area, that's looking really nice as well through that portion of 880. oakland colosseum area northbound on the taillights side. the live shot and the earlier saw crews on the side of the road just off to the right. that cleared the area. i told you about the earlier traffic break. all lanes open. no more closures for any lanes heading up into downtown oakland. smooth drive to the bay bridge toll plaza. a live look shows a light volume of traffic off the east shore freeway, smooth drive as well. back to the maps there. back to you. that live shot coming up in a bit. >> we look forward to that. crisis in japan has stock markets in a free fall. scott will join us with that. >> good morning. looks good this morning as far

as the dow goes, but shares in apple were crushed on wednesday after leading analysts downgraded. his opinion of the cupertino company. apple fell $15.46 a slayer toha. a 4 1/2 point plunge. causing supply problems. keep in mind, apple wasn't able to keep up demand for the new ipad even before the quake. motorola lowers the price of its new zoom tablet to match the apple ipad. this is just the wi-fi version. these zooms with cell phone chips in them are still the same high price. these things have gotten great reviews but critics say the price is too high. hey a new netflix competitor online called zediva out of sunnyvale that actually shows you movies netflix can't. netflix stock down a little bit. movies like "mega mind" just out on dvd on tuesday and yet the company is able to show them to

you. what happens, brent, is they literally have dvd players at the company. they stick dvds into these players and then stream them over the internet. they believe that's a legal loophole so they can get the movies out before netflix and red box do. i'm kind of sure hollywood's going to see it differently. we'll continue to watch this case. but in the meantime, instant streaming of dvds over the internet. >> interesting, scott. we've talked about this so many times. technology advances faster than the law can keep pace. >> absolutely true. and then somebody finds a loophole, and they may be in the right, not taking sides on this particular story, but if you go up against a giant, you don't have to be right. right doesn't always help you. >> right. you're still going to have a battle. >> yeah. >> it can change. >> sometimes the time it takes to get it done, they'll continue do to it. we continue to follow recovery efforts in japan. what a former president has to say coming up next.

it's one of the biggest bottlenecks in the entire bay area. now work is starting on the oak left-hand side of the forth core of the caldecott tunnel. coming up, an update on the project. plus, the weather causes a piece of highway 1 to fall into the ocean. a look at where andy win thate oadwabay ll be back open. ck

cleanup continues in japan. the latest on rescue efforts is next. plus, california senators express concern about what a quake could do to california nuclear plants. what they're asking for this morning. >> reporter: also, high surf advisory is effect for much of the northern california coastline. the morning after a surfer dies at mavericks. i'll explain how the big waves

here could hamper tsunami recovery efforts coming up. a live look outside from the south bay this morning. it is thursday, march 17th. happy st. patrick's day. this is "today in the bay." and good morning, everybody. thanks for joining us. 5:30 right now. i'm brent. >> and i'm laura. a look at the forecast and christina. >> good morning to you. well, the dry break continues. rain stopped this morning. clear skies overhead. big time weathermaker on the way to the bay area for tomorrow. we're going to talk all about that this morning. today looks good. highs a little on the chilly side, upper 50s. low 60s. overall, not a bad day for st. patrick's day. take you through the forecast coming up. let's get you to work right now. is it green out there's for go this morning, mike? that's the question? >> it is. green for go and green for st.

patrick's day like you said. i'm going to show you an area with a lot of relief. here at the maze. a smooth drive. no problems approaching the bay bridge. toll plaza has no backup. and no delays here. a clear view. things are different than a few days ago where we had a lot of fog and yesterday, calmer than yesterday because there's no rain now. a break guys. back to you. >> thank you very much. this morning, military helicopters in japan now on the ground after dropping seawater on the damaged nuclear reactor to keep it from spewing out more radiation. two chinook helicopters dump four loads of water on to the damaged reactor. television coverage shows much of the water blown away by the wind. those helicopters are grounded while it is evaluated whether it was successful. at the fukushima plant, they're working to slow the nuclear crisis.

experts say there is a radiation plume headed to california, but it will be diluted as it travels towards us. based on patterns of pacific winds, the plume is expected to hit california, but miss the bay area. now, if the winds are normal, the plume will miss the hawaiian islands but hit the allusions and southern california. i want to remind you, the u.s. regulatory commission does not expect harmful radiation levels to reach the u.s. the nuclear crisis that people all along the west coast on edge. california's two nuclear power plants are a concern as well. the plants sit on faultlines next to the ocean. senators dianne feinstein and barbara boxer attended a new set of hearings demanding the nuclear regulatory commission reinspect the safety of those reactors immediately. >> there was a 9.0 earthquake in a place where they never, ever thought. wouldn't you immediately say as the lead person with all the american people behind you,

guess what? i'm independent. i represent the american people, and i want to make sure, and i'm going to go back to every plant that's on -- and not wait two years. find out now. >> senator boxer says she will not approve recertification of the plants if the nrc cannot prove that they will stand -- that the reactors will withstand a strong earthquake and tsunami. more than 7 million people live in close proximity to those two plants. this morning we are learning more about the devastating human toll of the triple disaster in japan. now word that 14 elderly patients died after being transferred out of a hospital in the radiation zone to a temporary shelter in a high school gym. at this hour, more than 5,300 people are confirmed dead but that number is expected to grow to well over 10,000 people. 450,000 people are staying in emergency shelters.

if you would plik to help the people of japan, of course, you can donate to the american red cross. one of the safe ways to go about doing that. you can go to redcross.org or find american red cross on facebook. you can also text red cross to 90999. each text will donate $10 to the red cross' humanitarian efforts. a former u.s. president is weighing in on the disaster in japan. bill clinton was in san francisco yesterday. he says the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear fallout is an economic setback for japan. also talked about the forces of nature no country could withstand. >> extrapann is a wonderfully organized society yet they have problems getting out of their financial collapse and just when i thought they were doing it they have an 8.9 earthquake, and nuclear plants that were clearly well constructed and well protected as any in the world, i find out there are some things that no structures can resist.

>> the former president was in town to address an internet convention. family and friends will gather to celebrate the livelihood of a man who died in afghanistan. mark wells died earlier this month in the helmut province. wells leaves behind a pregnant wife and toddler. his family says the funeral is taking place on st. patrick's day, because wells was proud of his irish heritage. this morning a high surf advisory is in effect hours of a an elite surfer died in the water at mavericks. today we are live with a look at the dangerous conditions there. >> reporter: good morning. the only thing that's calm out here at the pacific up here is the weather. no wind to talk about. the water, a different story. a live look at the water, and it's certainly choppy. in fact, this is already making its way up to the sea wall at certain times and the pier which typically opens at 4:00 a.m. to

the public, well, it's not open yet and doesn't look like it's going to be open anytime soon. as a precautionary measure, of course. the national weather service tells me the high surf advisory extends from sonoma county to and through monterrey county, from a big storm expected to hit tomorrow. the high surf advisory in effect from 11:00 p.m. friday night. national weather service forecasts the most dangerous conditions through tomorrow evening. waves expected twee 13 and 16 feet high and could create deadly rip currents. be mindful of the ocean, especially after what happened yesterday. a 35-year-old professional surfer from hawaii was killed while surfing at maverick's. something he always wanted to do. witnesses say the waves that likely pinned him down below the surface were 40 feet high. >> i broke a leash and got

pushed in a bit, and i was a little tired and i knew that the waves were substantial and i probably should take a rest and i did. i'm pretty sure he wiped out an a big wave and got held down a very long time. >> holy crap, dude. now, the other concern in the next couple of days is the added insult to injury in santa cruz where the harbor was hit by that tsunami surge just on friday. damage estimates there are now at about $25 million. the harbor remains closed through sunday. though some portions have been opened to allow the boat owners to go see their boats. but those boat owners, they're trying to pick up the pieces. this expected high surf could cause even more damage. once again, high surf advisory in effect through 11:00 p.m. friday night. keep in mind, high tide is expected to hit the bay area shortly after 10:00 this morning when it could be particularly bad. live in pacifica this morning,

marla taesz live in the bay. this morning highway 1 south of carmel is closed and will remain that way indefinitely because of a 40-foot -- 40 feet of road, rather, that just dropped into the ocean yesterday afternoon. the road is between polo colorado roald and bixby bridge. this is what it looks like now. chp says the road will be closed several days if not longer. no one was hurt in that slide. the project to extend the caldecott tunnel reached a major milestone. today the bay's christie smith is live in oakland with a look at what's ahead for that project. christie? >> reporter: good morning to you, brent. hard to believe we're already a year into this project, and so far all the work has been going on on the orinda side with trucks and heavy equipment. but today, things are changing. this is a major turning point, an archway in place and bigging work now starting on the oeg left-hand side. now, for commuters this morning you may not see a lot going on.

a huge wall and the work is off to the side. so no road closures or anything like that to report. the new bore core, though, the fourth core, adds two lanes, shoulders and a three-foot walkway. tunneling itself, though, that type of work can be risky, caltrans is saying, with falling rock and debris, a lot of gases inside and even a risk of explosion. so far about 900 feet has been tunnelled into from the orinda side. in all, 3,400 feet. when complete it will ease the reverse commute direction which is huge for the 160,000 drivers who pass through here every day. reporting live in oakland, christie smith, "today in the bay." >> thanks for the update in, christie. pretty big storm coming our way. but that's tomorrow. right, christina? >> i say, right, kristine 345? >> yeah. there's a big storm -- there she is. >> no.

that was brent. >> i'm a pretty good -- we can practice that later, ventriloquist act. 37 in novato. this morning i'd like to say, just a touch cooler. that is not the case. about 15 degrees cooler than we were at this time yesterday. you will need the heavy winter coat with temperatures just about 3 to 6 degrees above freezing. up in the north bay, the 30s are back on the map, and we're not eaven at the coldest point yet. the coldest point now just before sunrise. this time of the year, with the time change, about 7:15 a.m. you can see here, a really strong system. right now starting to push closer and closer to the coast and the pacific northwest. it's going to slide to the south as we head through tomorrow. that's what's already kicking up the high surf. stay away from the beaches today. dangerous conditions. even more so tomorrow. we'll tell you how much rain we're expecting to get from this system. definitely enough for flooding. we'll attack ytake you through

the entire st. patrick's day forecast. in the traffic department, let's find out. >> helping here as well. antioch, you might guess pinched westbound, highway 4, no more green there. speeds in the 40s. starting 80, the tradition wearing green on st. patrick's day through this area as well. a nice, easy drive through this four leaf area, though. approaching the bay bridge toll plaza still an 18 minute drive. no lights on at the toll plaza itself. a live look. what's going on, down through this area, east bay out of dublin. there's your st. patrick's day report. back to you. >> excellent. thank you very much. time now, 5:41. the battle over california's budget returns to sacramento is morning. we'll look at what lawmakers have already decided. >> stay with us.

new concerns from the u.s. state department over the risk of federal workers staying in japan. first they say the safety zone

around the damaged nuclear plant is not big enough, and the obama administration is making arrangements now to get americans out of japan. "today in the bay"'s tracie potts is live in d.c. a few new travel warnings from the state department. stronger than what the japanese are recommending. >> reporter: right. the united states saying don't travel to japan. if you're there, consider coming back home. those flights are available. airports open, and also as you mentioned, the u.s. now said there should be a 50 mile buffer zone around that nuclear plant while they try to cool down the reactors, bu there is elevated radiation in the air. the japanese have said that people could stay 20 to 25 miles with the distance of the plant. the u.s. disagrees and the japanese this morning, quite frankly, said their own experts are in disagreement about whether there's enough water there to cool that number 4

reactor. the u.s., they say they understand it's taking the more conservative view of the danger of that situation. the head of the nuclear regulatory commission here continues to say our facilities are safe, but also agrees there is no water in that pool number 4 based on the information that they're seeing coming in from japan. brent? >> thanks, tracie. the accused murderer of a plasterville yale graduate is expected to change his plea today. attorneys for raymond clark iii sap he struck a deal with prosecutors and is planning on changing his not guilty plea in a court hearing today. clark pleaded not guilty last fall to the murder of 24-year-old annie lei, a yale grad yit student. her body found stuffed behind a research lab wall on campus. trying to reach a budget deal. approving a $7.4 billion in new cuts yesterday. those affect welfare work

programs, services for the developmentally disabled and the state's health insurance for the poor. a plan to eliminate redevelopment agencies fell shy by about one vote. lawmakers have not decided wther to have a special election on extending taxes, tax hikes said to expire in june. 5:46 now. uc students could see tuition hikes of 18% according to a new report. looking at a $1.5 billion budget gap over the next few years. without a state funded increase, the school system will have to combine cuts and tuition hikes to close that gap. uc regions say only an annual tuition hike of 18% will do. the region approved an 18% increase in november and a 32% increase last year. time is 5:46. want to check in with christina, tracking this new storm coming our way. >> yes. we have pretty big concerns when it comes to this next storm. i don't like to hype up the weather unless it's absolutely

necessary and this system has a few components that do raise concerns. you can see here, rain not falling over the bay area right now, but this is the leading edge of that system that's going to drop through the bay area as we head through tomorrow bringing about pretty heavy rain at times. and what we're really noticing with this system right now, already creating some thunderstorms, some lightning strikes here offshore. this has a lot of instability associated with it. tomorrow, thunder and lightning are in the forecast. possibly pea-sized hail and a lot of rain on the way to the bay area. maybe upwards of two inches in the north bay. looking more like an inch in the south bay and east bay an along the peninsula, but if this system stalls out, our biggest concern, it could just sit and dump rain over the bay area where our grounds are already saturated from relentless rains in days past. 61 degrees in fremont. sun and cloud. this will be a dry day before that heavy, heavy rain comes tomorrow. and then we keep rain chances in the mix each and every day next week. this weekend looks downright cold and cloudy.

your extended forecast is on the way. hey, the luck of the irish is with us today and i love your green. >> i feel like i'm the only green around here. i'm olga garcia today. thanks a lot. the giants host the angels as spring training kongts. big news out of camp, top prospect brandon belch, a lot to think about. if he makes the roster they'll have to mix things up in the outfield. and i do have a splash o'green in the tie there. all right. the ncaa tournament starts this morning, but a bay area team is already ready for the second round of the n.i.t. cal beat ole miss in round one. students happy about that. meaning the bears advance to the second round now and play top seed colorado tomorrow in boulder. and beating idaho state,

playing hawaii saturday. back to the big dance. the main ncaa tournament starts this morning. a couple play-in games, already happened. the main thing, starting today. >> having fun with it. the bay crew filled out their brackets. play along with us. a link on the site. or go to brackets.csnc. here's a look at some of our picks. our finalists. laura and i both picked ohio state to win it all. scott likes duke. christina, jayhawks, likes kansas, and mike says his alma mater, ucla is going all the way. cheering in the background. go bruins. and coming up at 6:15, we'll talk to paul from comcast sports net bay area, he's going to join us live, going to give us what we might call little bracket smackdown of sorts. checking in with him. >> we didn't actually match our brackets. >> did not corroborate.

>> wasn't until after the fact. uh-huh. some things are separate. 5:49. >> money isn't separate. >> yeah. >> go a commercial. >> talk about a different kind of green. st. patrick's day. a company that's offering a free ride to get home. plus coming up on "today in the bay," do you have a right to privacy on the internet and the internet bill of rights coming up. and you have the right to a smooth drive. while you're watching this, i'm thursday commute. things are getting slow. tell where coming up.

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we'll check in with christina in a bit. if you've been drinking on st. patrick's day and need a ride home, your lucky day. tipsy tow program takes you home for free. aaa will tow any drinking driver who calls between 6:00 p.m. tonight and 6:00 a.m. tomorrow. drinking drivers should call 00-222-4357, a achlaaa will tow car home with six miles. give that number to a friend of yours. >> don't drink and drive. checking the commute this morning with mike. >> a good note for this morning as well as if going through 6:00 a.m. watch tomorrow as well. the slowdown kicked off as a tradition at the altamont pass, and yellow cars speeds indicating below 50 approaching north flynn road and i picked out that specific sensor for the 59 right there. 15-minute drive retch registers

coming into livermore. a nice, easy drive off the dublin interchange. there you go. st. patrick's day, do the maze and a smooth flow towards the toll plaza. a live look on the roadway no major issues off the freeway but volume increasing here and another live look further to the south. san mateo bridge, volume picking up. interchange smooth and the peninsula. moving around the bay, you'll see slowdowns around the area. back to you. >> thank you very much. 5:54. jury questioning begins in the barry bond perjury trial. prospective jurors will fill out a 19-page questionnaire at a san francisco federal courthouse. some of the questions asked include the number of baseball games attended and if their family has had substance abuse problems. bonds is facing charges he lied about taking steroids in front of a grand jury back in 2003. jury selection for the perjury trial begins next week. meantime, lawyers on both

sides of that barry bonds case are searching facebook trying to see if potential jurors have an opinion about him. kind of an interesting look at the way they screen people and scott mcgrew continues the coverage. >> becoming common practice. write somethibad about bonds --r john kerry the latest to call for a nationwide internet users bill of rights. currently under american law, your right to privacy is sort of piecemeal. so, for instance, your medical records are protected but your school records aren't. other countries tend to see personal information as one big idea that ought to be protected. a judge in san francisco says he will allow sony to subpoena paypal records belonging to hackers. the send time the judge has given sony freedom to stop a

hacker. he has a special code allowing people to run free game it's on their playstation. earlier the judge said sony could look at the man's server records. civil rights groups are upset. the privacy concern here is absolutely innocent people could get ensnared in the case, if you bought something and paid through paypal or visited the site on accident, would that mean you had done something wrong? that's the big legal question. >> very interesting. thanks, scott. meantime, tiger woods has not been happy with the way he's playing golf these day, but he was all smiles and a little nervous laughter during his first late-night appearance in more than a year and a half. he was on "late night with jimmy fallon" woods answering tough questions about his lackluster golf performances. >> thanks for having me. >> a year and a half since you were on our show. >> yeah. >> what have you been up to? >> ah, nothing. nothing.

[ laughter ] playing bad golf. >> playing bad golf. yeah. at least he admits it. woods had a few questions and jokes about his infamous sex scandal then joined amy poehler and poehler wanted to wear woods' green masters jacket for st. patrick's day. >> could be critical but you've got to earn that one. 5:57. radiation plume headed from japan to california. a live report on whether it's going to hit us here coming up. plus another day in court for the couple accused of kidnapping j.c. dugard. what's back i hn a couple minuty. back in a couple minutes. [ male announcer ] beatrice earned her masters in education

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