voluntary evacuations are underway for families of american service members stationed in japan. they are coming back this morning to the travis air force base. i'm christie smith with that story coming up in a live report. and a live look outside this morning at the bay bridge approach this morning. so far so good. we'll update you on what's going on in terms of water on the roads and your metering lights, all kinds of things. it is tuesday, march 22nd, "today in the bay." good morning, everybody. thank you for joining us. it is straight up 6:00. i'm brent cannon. >> i'm laura garcia-cannon. let's check the forecast, is it going to be a rainy week ahead? a rainy week ahead. two powerful storms are on the way. one as early as tonight, but let's get you to work right now. a little bit of shower activity lingering over oakland. for the most part, showers are clearing. we'll get a little bit of a

break today for the first part of the day. then the showers start by this evening. we'll break it down for you, how much we are expecting and we'll detail thursday's storm as well. but hey, it is tuesday. if you are going to get to work right now, mike inouye is standing by. what does it look like out there this morning? we are okay, christina. we are doing really well because this area of the maze where you showed just had showers come through on the radar. we are seeing no major flooding through this portion of your commute. a wind advisory was cleared from the chp report. we'll give you a live look at the upper deck with gusty conditions there. christie that has seen changing conditions. so far the volume is picking up. you can see the steady stream of lights. we'll watch the metering lights turn on in 20 to 25 minutes. back to you. 6:01 right now. one day until the long-awaited trial of barry bonds and already the jury is seated. the jury was selected yesterday. it is made up of eight women and four men as well as two female

alternates. most are from the east bay. and none are die-hard baseball fans. now this morning opening statements are expected to begin. and today in the bay's damian trujillo is live in san francisco with today's big events. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. well, actually, one of them is an oakland a's fan so irony there in san francisco here. opening arguments begin at 8:30 where the prosecution will present its case against barry bonds. jury selection did, in fact, take place yesterday. it took them less than a day for the jury to select a jury, or for both sides to select a jury. they hope to plant a seed in one of the jurors there's reasonable doubt that barry bonds lied to the jury. the burden lies on the prosecution since the judge threw out a lot of the evidence they wanted to use against bonds. bonds holds the all-time record

for home runs hit. prosecutors say bonds was on steroids at the time and lied about it. the jurors will sit and watch and the jury that has only two people on it who appeared to be minority. >> it would be disrespectful to say we have so many men or tall people or red-haired people, that's not how we are looking at this. >> reporter: the big name on the docket today is greg anderson, bonds' personal trainer. he is expected to refuse to testify again and will likely head back to jail for that refusal. then the prosecution will call in more witnesses. and on the list is a baseball player's former member jason giambi and bobby espelleya. thank you, damian. we have questions on the bay area's sanity who attempted to kill his teachers at his former

school. alex ushock never thought twice about bringing a chain saw, samurai sword and ten pipe bombs to hillsdeal high school back in august of 2009 when the intent of killing teachers. the prosecution will begin rebuttal tomorrow. if ushock is found guilty of any charges then the same judge and jury has to determine his sanity. closing arguments are expected today in the case of the professional poker player accused of brutally murdering his parents for money. ernie scherer very iii says he was asleep on his couch in southern california and could not have killed his parents. he was accused of beating his parents to death with a baseball bat. authorities say he was deeply in debt and wanted to claim his $1 million inheritance. scherer says he's not guilty. work is resuming this morning at the fukushima nuclear power plant in japan. crews are racing to restore

critical cooling systems. power cables were hooked up to all six reactors now but more work is needed before electricity is turned on and the pumps can bring water into the overheated system. the officials say even if that happens restoring electricity won't automatically solve all the problems however it will help. in the meantime another big quake hitting japan early this morning. the 6.6 quake struck just after midnight our time 182 miles southeast of sandai. new numbers are also out this morning showing more than 9,000 people were killed by the 9.0 magnitude quake and tsunami. 13,500 people are still missing. police say the two numbers could overlap. they estimate the final number of people killed will exceed 18,000. hundreds of americans living in japan will be back on american soil this morning. they will land at travis air force base outside of vacaville. "today in the bay's" christie

smith is live at trafs this morning with more on the families and how they will be taken care of and how they are getting in and out of there and the whole deal. >> reporter: good morning to you, brent. i just spoke to a military official here this morning and she tells me the first plane should be arriving as we speak carrying 330 people. these are families of american service members from japan. a long flight, 13 hours, they are going to be tired. there are a lot of people here waiting for them. there are also 24 pets on this flight. so quite a long flight here. and a lot of these families we are told on the first flight, the family members have ties to the navy. and there are people here from the navy to help them out with things like lodging, medical things, et cetera. they may have left japan with none of their medical prescriptions, so they will get help here. they will be here for two to three hours to help with

arrangements. the next top is getting them home, if you will. on march 17th the office of the secretary of defense authorized a voluntary departure for families living in japan following the devastating 9.0 earthquake, tsunami an ongoing nuclear crisis there. but this is also to reduce demand on food and electricity and fuel in japan. this is one of two planes that will be landing here today. the second one arriving at 9:00 a.m., but this is the second u.s. location for these types of flights. the first in seattle, that is ongoing, and we are told flights will be ongoing here as well for the foreseeable future. reporting live at trafs air force base, christie smith for "today in the bay." in the meantime, people in tokyo are getting back to normal. commuters returned to work today after a week-long disruption. many of the 13 million people in the city stayed inside last week because of radiation concerns.

tokyo and the surrounding areas have also suffered from rolling power outages since that quake. nbc bay area would like to thank you for all the support you gave us during the friday telethon for japan. new counts this morning show we raised a lot more than first thought. almost $769,000. we appreciate all the help. if you were unable to donate on friday, you can still help. the american red cross is accepting donations. go to redcross.org or text redcross to 90999. each text will donate $10 to the red cross' humanitarian efforts. san jose is the largest city in the united states without fluoride in its drinking water. however that could change today. the water district will hold a hearing to talk about retro fitting the water system. it will cost $23 million to do. people who like the idea of having fluoride in the water say in the end it will save more than $100 million in dental expenses. that project will be paid for by water customers who are going to

see increases in their monthly bill. with all the rain we have been having one of the things we are keeping an eye on this morning is the napa river. the past few storms have put the napa and gernsville rivers over the banks. the levels this morning are considered normal right now. however, around midnight the weather service had the napa river had monitor stage. the river has flooded before. in 1986 two people were killed, 400 homes were destroyed and hundreds of others were damaged when that river overflowed. well, the bay area is not the only place experiencing strange weather. look at this funnel cloud in the sky just north of sacramento. several schools were actually put on lockdown yesterday afternoon but none were evacuated. so far no reports of significant injuries. but i wouldn't want to see that coming my way. >> you know -- >> no, i wouldn't want to see that coming my way. >> i used to live in tornado

country, i'm used to that. we are in earthquake country now. i can't see the earthquake coming. i want to check in with christina and look at the forecast. did you see that video? it has the blue skies where we have the heat, then you have the cold clouds, that's tornado stuff right there. >> yeah, it sound like you have lived in a severe weather area before. >> i have. >> that's right. he actually was a football player as well in colorado. maybe that's when he had his chance in the mile high city where they get a lot of weather. right now we have weather rolling through, nothing substantial. just enough to get the roadways nice and slick. but yesterday we were under the gun. we had the threat of severe weather in our neck of the woods as well. and quite a few thunderstorms rolled through as we saw that yesterday morning. this morning much more tranquil out there, especially when you consider the fact that all of the shower activity is clearing up. we'll get a little bit of a break before our next round of significant rain moves into the bay area. this is a big weather maker, but if there's another stronger

storm here, it is right behind it. that has my concern because there's not a lot of time in between the systems for the bay area to dry out. the potential for flash flooding in some areas that are not built to withstand that much rain coming down as once is definitely a possibility. starting tonight, tomorrow will be very active weather. then the early portion of thursday will be the busiest. this is what we are expecting in terms of overall totals. you can see the orange here. look on the key, two to five inches possible. and not just in the north bay, we are talking about the south bay, areas in the east bay, even along the peninsula. some areas could pick up to three to four inches of rain before all is said and done. so you want to clear out those storm drains and get all the debris out of the way. this morning grab a jacket and the umbrella. you might find showers on your way home from work starting up in the north bay at 3:00 p.m. 58 today. 59 on wednesday. we'll check your drive with mike inouye. good morning, christina. we'll take you to the south bay where i want to give you an

update. speeds are holding up well overall. but there's a blip on northbound 280 approaching 87. we are soon to see a little slowing for northbound 101 right around 680. the 6:00 hour is when we start to see slowing especially approaching 630 for 101 and 280 heading through san jose. we have seen the slowing here for the altamont pass heading into livermore. a 16-minute drive because speeds on average into livermore are just below 50. that's why we are seeing the travel times grow here holding for the backup through antioch. 13 minutes or 13 miles per hour, sorry, through l street. the issue across the venetian bridge and cartinas bridge is not an issue for drivers, but folks taking the vallejo-baylink ferry, they are canceled this morning. you do have the 4:05 and 5:15 ferries canceled. the east shore freeway is looking nice. the volume continues to pick up. no metering lights and the roads are relatively dry.

we are getting a break and watching the effects of the mud-soaked roadways and the hillsides that could be affected this morning. it is getting saturated. thank you, mike. >> 6:12 right now. a new study find a good portion of california schools in deep financial trouble. we'll tell you exactly how many. plus, the california health provider that says it is going to give customers a break. we'll explain why your bill is still going up. [ banker ] when ashley's violin teacher told her parents she was gifted,

they were thrilled. she's a natural vibrato. oh. we started saving for this music camp in vermont. so i told them about some of the wells fargo online savings tools like my savings plan, which helps them set up and monitor a savings goal. until we found out that maybe her teacher uses certain terms a little bit loosely. rebecca is clearly very gifted. [ banker ] we decided to roll that money into ashley's college account. turns out there's seven gifted kids in ashley's class of nine. [ male announcer ] wells fargo. with you when it's time to save. ♪

6:15 rightnow. a recent report says over 10% of california schools are in financial trouble. state superintendent tom torlickson shows 13 school districts have negative certifications meaning they may not be able to pay their bills through the end of next year. the east bay was included in the list. emory, oakland and mount diablo

school districts posted a better outlook and were so far able to stay off the list. the state takes over financial due duties when a district is given a negative certification. an unusual sight in san diego. some people are waking up to snow on the ground. up to a foot of snow fell in parts of northern and eastern san diego county. they blanketed the mountain town of julian and monica dean from our nbc station in san diego is live this morning with a look at some of the snow. kind of weird when you think of san diego being down south by the mexican border. you have snow! >> reporter: this is not what you picture, brent, right? when you think of san diego, sunny san diego, not at all. this is springtime to boot. we are on mount laguna this morning just about 50 miles east of our studios in downtown san diego. and take a look, they got a lot of snow here. the laguna mountain lodge, which is a popular hot spot for tourists to come spend a snowy winter day, is just a few miles from where we are right now.

and they are reporting they got about ten inches of snow overnight. there have been snowplows out all morning long. you can see the cars slowly making their way down sunrise highway. good morning. we are just above 5,000 feet. and as we made our way up here, it was quite an adventure because we had to put chains on our news vehicle. props to my news photographer for doing that in the dark and cold this morning. and it has been a mixture of sleet and snow. at the base of mount laguna our car was registering right around 34 to 38 degrees. it was sleeting and then just a few miles up the mountain it turned into this. and you can see quite a lot of snow here in the mountain town of julian. it is famous for its apples. there is a late start for schools there. and really a good reminder for people heading out this way to see this spectacle of a sight in san diego, slow down on the roadways. the chp will be out in force this morning just to make sure

that some of these roads are safe enough to travel throughout the morning. there possibly could be closures. i'm not sure if you can really tell, but there is still some sleet blowing toward my back here. the wind has been blowing, and it has been quite cold. our car is registering 32 degrees right where we are standing. and at the laguna mountain lodge they are reporting 24 degrees there. so not typical sunny san diego, but we are enjoying the beautiful sight this tuesday morning. i'm monica dean on mount laguna, back to you in the studio. >> that is kind of cool. you can have breakfast in the snow and lunch in the palm trees down by the ocean later today. not many plays places you can do that. >> reporter: that's exactly what i'll be doing later today. new this morning the state's largest health insurer will lower and delay rate increases this year, a move to save policyholders $40 million. anthem blue cross will push its rate hikes scheduled to take

effect april 1st back three months to july 1st. it will also reduce the rate hike from its originally proposed 10% average increase to about 9%. the changes are expected to benefit 600,000 policyholders. the move comes just days after blue shield of california abandoned its proposed hikes for the entire year. time now is 6:19. talking about snow and rain, i think some people saw a little hail. we have been talking about tornadoes. what have we not had? we have it all. >> sea level snow. we have not been talking about snow in san francisco for a while. so that's good news. more good news if you have been tuning in waiting for the secret word of the day. well, we'll have it for you in just a minute. we'll get through your weather forecast first. the important stuff, as you can see here, we have moisture streaming onshore. nothing heavy, just pockets of light rain. this is the case until about 9:00 a.m. for another three hours or so, then we'll get a dry break. if you needed to get on outside

over the weekend and mow the lawn and couldn't do so because of the rain, i think you'll get your chance today for the first part of the day. we have a big-time spring storm on the way as we head through the latter portion of this evening and into tonight. rain will start in the north bay at about 3:00 p.m. intensifying as we head throughout the night. and this is going to bring a lot of moisture our way on the heels of the first storm where we have a stronger storm. we are concerned about the possibility of heavy rain, gusty winds, maybe even more of the strong thunderstorms as we head through tonight and tomorrow morning. and before all is said and done, take a look at how much rain is going to come into the bay area over the next 72 hours. by 1:00 p.m. thursday, two to five inches up in the north bay. in the south bay, even the east bay, we are registering the orange. so this is nothing to take lightly. 48 degrees in san francisco. 43 degrees in san mateo. 46 in sunnyvale. you'll need the jacket today with temperatures only climbing into the upper 50s. 58 degrees is the forecasted high with sun and clouds today.

rain is starting at about 3:00 p.m. that makes for a dangerous driving condition up in the north bay. i would say for your evening commute you probably want to have the umbrella handy. 59 degrees for wednesday. periods of rain. a lot of it coming down over the hours of the morning commute tomorrow. so you are going to plan on giving yourself extra time for that. okay, if you stay tuned this long, we've got your word of the day. today's word is basket. log on to nbcbayarea.com. you'll see the contest button right on the home page. and you will be registered to win tickets to "hawk." we are not doing this by any standard lightly. we are giving away 40 passes, which means your odds are pretty good to go see that movie. back to you guys. >> good luck to you. thank you. time now is 6:21. some bay area commuters may have to pay more this summer. we'll tell you about proposed new rate hikes. and new ways to track radiation online. we'll show you how coming up in tech news. and heading through the north bay, there's a slowdown

heading up into santa rosa, but san rafael is holding up pretty steady. we have chances for developing fog. i'll let you know what else we , king fo thehe effects of your weather on the morning commute are coming up. ♪ have a good daisy ♪ eat well, live long ♪ have a good daisy, work out, get strong ♪ ♪ when you need a lift, just sing a song ♪

♪ and have a good daisy ♪ have a good daisy with a natural treat ♪ ♪ have a good daisy, healthy foods to eat ♪ ♪ when you want some joy, dance to the beat ♪ ♪ and have a good daisy [ female announcer ] enjoy the fresh, 100% natural choice in cottage cheese. ♪ have a good daisy ♪ have a good daisy

the sound of spring... it's a symphony best appreciated... at full blast. the moment you've been waiting for has arrived. springs best event. from cadillac. with zero down, zero due and zero first month's payment on the exhilarating cadillac cts. but like the beauty of spring, it won't last long. people that use the north bay transit system may soon have to reach farther into their pockets. the golden gate highway transportation district will

meet today to talk about charging more over the next five years. they hope to close the $89 million deficit. if the proe po sal passes this would mark the 14th straight year of fare increases for the district. let's give you good news this, mo. let's check the morning commute. mike? >> we'll start off with good news regarding the ferries. the vallejo-baypoint ferry is not running this morning. the buses are in place there instead. the metering lights have been turned on as well, so the maze looks nice. the metering lights turned on early this morning at 6:20. so five minutes ago. we are seeing the backup forming in the cash lanes, which is typical for that pattern. the east shore freeway, a nice, easy drive. an 18-minute drive there. the buildup continues for the livermore drive out of the altamont pass with speeds in the 30s and 40s. and a look at 880 with volume

building past the coliseum past high street, that's a typical pattern for the roadway. we have had a few rough days with the rainy weather. it is calmer today. back to you. 6:25 right now. scott mcgrew says you can see how much radiation is leaking from the stricken nuclear plants in japan right on the web. >> good morning. i'm surprised it took someone this long, but a software company out of portland put a website together matching up to go up maps with official measurements out of japan as well as a few radiation measurements taken by scientists. is this rock solid? no, but it is the first time we have seen a good compilation in one spot. find it at rdtn.org. and tech industry studies say 20% of the blanks used to make chips will not be available because they come out of japan. this sort of silicon wafer is used in everything from process sores to flash memory.

that's probably where you are going to see the biggest shortage, flash memory. they are used in ipads and ipods to store your stuff. verizon is going to open a special research center on spear street in san francisco where app designers can come in to work on new applications for high-speed phone networks and then have access to verizon engineers and other 4g devices and other hardware. the hope is you have all these creative people in san francisco's community, you've got the engineers coming from verizon, if you create the place where the two of them can get together, that's only going to be good for verizon. ve tnk thi o afn thinkf napp for that. 6:27 right now. we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] diane was already

the chief operating offi at a national tissue bank when she decided to get her masters in healthcare administration. by choosing a university that connects working students to faculty who are also leaders in their fields... she was able to apply her studies to the real world... and helpore people, much quicker. ♪ my name is diane wilson, i delir the best gifts on earth,

and i am a phoeni [e announcer ] learmore he cg at phoenix.edu. opening arguments begin in two hours in the case against barry bonds. i'm damian trujillo, a live report is next from the san francisco federal courthouse. plus, the trial of two men

accused of killing oakland journalist chauncey bailey moves forward today. we'll tell you what is happening in court this morning. and rain and snow hitting california this morning. a look at some of the road closures coming up. and a live look outside oakland this morning. lots of folks hitting the roads. so far it looks like they are moving okay. luckily we don't have a lot of rain yet. it is tuesday, march 22nd, "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 the forecast right now with christina to see if we are getting a break from the rain today. we are getting a break from watering our lawns, that's for sure. the rain continues right now, but it looks like it will be back. heavy rain as we head through tonight. we'll get a little bit of a break. we are seeing quite a bit of residual moisture push onshore.

right now we have showers in oakland, vallejo, some headed to you in san bruno. that will be there in five minutes. so enough on the way as we head throughout this morning to get our roadways nice and slick. you want to take it easy out there. i'm going to tell you about what's to come, two strong storms headed our way, but first you probably have to get to work. it is a tuesday morning. how does it look, mike? christina, it is exactly what you are talking about. the rain traveling right along highway 4 through antioch. we see your typical slowing pattern jm jamming near love ridge. 580 saw overnight rain near the altamont pass, so we are watching for slick conditions there. a live look at the toll plaza with the metering lights on. the backup is storming, half the parking lot is full. that's a nice build there. back to you. 6:31 right now. opening statements today in the highly-anticipated case of former slugger barry bonds. "today in the bay's" damian trujillo is live outside the federal courthouse in san francisco with more on today's events. good morning. >> reporter: good morning,

laura. barry bonds should arrive in just over an hour here at san francisco federal courthouse. then you'll hear from prosecu r prosecutors as they say why he should go to prison. the jury is composed of eight women and four men. they were picked yesterday. prosecutors have to convince all of them that bonds lied to a federal grand jury looking into the balco steroids investigation. the defense, they just have to plant the seed of reasonable doubt in just one of them. once lawyers for both sides complete their opening arguments then the prosecution will call its first witness with the chance for cross-examination by allen ruby and his defense team. some of the jurors include a nurse, a woman who likes sports, and oakland a's fan, a student and a retiree. prosecutors did not talk to reporters yesterday, but the defense team says it likes the jury makeup. >> i would say most of all what we were interested in was people who were going to feel comfortable following the instructions to pay attention only to the evidence that they hear that has been vetted by the

federal rules of evidence. and it seemed to us that these people really were ready to take that seriously and be able to accomplish it. and it is not easy. >> reporter: the prosecution's first witness today, possibly greg anderson, bonds' former personal trainer. he's scheduled to be here at 11:00. and again he is expected not to testify. that means he'll head to jail for the duration of this trial. to put it in baseball terms, brent and laura, bare r bonds doesn't need to hit a home run in this trial. he needs to just get on base to get a walk, to get a base on ball, because he just needs one juror to have doubt that he actually lied to that grand jury. so not a lot expected out of the defense team, but they will put on a full court press. live at the federal courthouse in san francisco, i'm damian trujillo, "today in the bay." >> you don't want to be thrown out of the game. thank you. two men accused of shooting and killing oakland journalist

chauncey subway lee will be on trial today. the case against you yusef bay iv is not a complicated one. he murdered chauncey bailey back in 2007. that trial is expected to last at least three months. 6:34 right now. to the latest on what's happening in japan this morning, crews are back at work at the troubled plant after smoke triggered another evacuation yesterday. a stoornlg pool holding 2,000 tons of older spent nuclear fuel is heating up forcing teams to divert water sprayed on other reactors there. if the pool begins to boil, radioactive steam could spew out. nerves in japan are on edge this morning after another earthquake, a 6.6 mac any attitude quake struck after midnight our time 182 miles southeast of sandai. no reports of damage or injuries, thankfully, but we are also getting new numbers out of

the disaster area this morning. 8,900 people are dead. 12,600 missing. police estimate the final number of people killed will exceed 18,000. and the body of a 24-year-old english teacher from virginia was found in the wreckage of this tsunami. taylor anderson could be the first known american victim in japan. meantime, a vigil will be held in the bay area tonight to honor the victims. people are going to gather at the university of san francisco at 6:00 tonight. that vigil will be in room 250 at the mclaren conference center. new numbers this morning show our viewers are very generous. turns out with your help nbc bay area and comcast raised almost $769,000 for disaster relief in japan. "today in the bay" would like to thank you all for your help. if you didn't make it out on friday, you can still donate money at redcross.org or text redcross to 909999.

each text will donate $10 to the red cross' humanitarian efforts. we have an update on the families trapped in the santa cruz mountains. bob redell is here with efforts on them trying to clear the road. >> reporter: for roughly 60 people who live on the other side of this rock slide, the only way in and out is by foot. no cars, and it could be this way for several days. we should get a better idea later this morning when a geologist is expected out here to assess how to remove this mess here on nelson road near sky meadow lane. the problem is the slide could be still moving and more rain is on the way, which would further delay any cleanup. the slide started yesterday morning with a few rocks. then early in the afternoon this happened. as seen in this iphone video, the slide escalated taking out a large tree and power pole. the movement was so fast, so

immense, people hauled out of there because they weren't sure where it was going to stop. when the rumbling was over everyone was safe. the slide, though, had completely covered the roadway from a helicopter view here you get a better sense of the power. by one estimate the slide rose to 30 feet in height and 200 feet in length. >> it was so powerful. and the sound was horrific. and it was just imunbelievable to see that amount of rocks and trees tumbling like matchsticks. zbr for the people living behind the mud slide, this is the pathway i mentioned to you, it is very narrow, but it does give them access in and out by foot. what a lot of people have done is parked their cars on the other side, so they are walking to this side of the mud slide and then getting a right ride to wherever they need to go. there are roughly 20 people without power. pg&e is working to restore that.

here in scott's valley, bob redell for "today in the bay." meantime, a lot of roads in the sierra are closed because of several new feet of snow there. in fact, you can not get in or out of yosemite. all roads leading into the national park are closed. they have seen snow, ice, mudslides, fallen trees and downed power lines. the winter storm dumped 3 1/2 feet of snow in the area. some of the visitors stuck inside the park finally got out in a caravan yesterday, but there's no word on when those roads might open. it may be july. i know that the pass is usually a late opening pass anyway in a normal year. >> on on top of it all, we have been getting a lot of snow. let's check the forecast now with christina. good morning to you. right now we are seeing something pretty positive, a little bit of a break from the rain. you can see here a lot of rain came through earlier this morning compared to what we have pushing onshore right now. just a very couple light cells. everything i look at continues

to show the friend of subsiding showers by about 9:00 a.m. we'll see a mostly clear bay area. a few residual showers are possible at that time, but overall it will be dry, at least until this afternoon when our next system pushes onshore. this low pressure system is one i'm kind of watching. if it pushes all the way inland, we could see pretty strong showers starting up this evening up in the north bay. but what could happen is it could skirt the coast like yesterday. if that's the case, we won't get all that much rain. so we are really going to watch this one. it is the one behind it, though, that really warrants our concern. we have a really strong weathermaker just on the heels of the first one. that looks like it is timed out for thursday. take a look at how much rain between the two systems we are expecting. between now and 1:00 p.m. thursday, up to five inches in the south bay and the north bay. we are looking at a lot of rain and certainly flood potential. a lot of our cities just aren't equipped to withstand heavy rain

coming down at once, so flash flooding is a possibility. you really just want to stay alert. of course, jeff ranieri, our chief meteorologist, is tracking the storms once they start to come in as early as this evening. 47 degrees right now in hayward. 45 degrees in san jose. we'll see the upper 50s today. you'll need the jacket, the umbrella and the windshield wipers, right, mike? that's right, christina. the maze is looking really good despite wet conditions. you are getting a break and get the windshield wipers in good condition. a good opportunity to make sure everything is in good condition as far as your travel time goes as well. what am i talking about? we are looking at 41 miles per hour. i'm thinking of tire treads and saying travel time. no problems right now approaching the maze. a live look out there shows you the bay bridge toll plaza with the backup building to the 880 overcrossing. despite some wet roads in the east bay, no major issues. we'll end with a live look past the coliseum. right now high street shows a slowing for 880. there are moisture concerns making a blur of the lights. 6:40 right now.

we have an update to the injury to giants' pitcher brian wilson coming up. plus the unrest in libya continues this morning. we'll have a live report on what the u.s. is doing coming up next. and the governor has harsh words for republicamaaw kers. atwhwh he has to say about a special election in june.

never in my lifetime did i think i could walk 60 miles in 3 days. 60 miles compared to what a cancer patient goes through is a walk in the park. from the moment i registered, people started immediately supporting me and asking me how they could help. you meet the most wonderful, inspiring people. when you accomplish those 60 miles, it's truly life-changing. (man) register today for the... and receive $25 off your registration fee. because everyone deserves a lifetime.

e twizzlers. the twist you can't resist. 6:43 right now. another night of attacks over the skies of libya and this morning president obama is under

attack for what some are calling an unclear mission in libya. tracie potts is live in washington joining us with the very latest. good morning, tracie. >> reporter: laura, good morning. some lawmakers on capitol hill, democrats and republicans, say first of all president obama should have consulted them before authorizing this military action in libya, not after the fact with the letter that he sent to congress. they are also concerned that this is an unclear mission. questions being rayed raised about the purpose of the no fly zone. whether or not the goal here is taking out moammar gadhafi. president obama said he needs to go, but he also said that's not the purpose of our planes now flying over libya. also, questions being raised about who are these rebels that we are trying to assist. could some of them have been the same rebels that crossed over from libya into iraq to fight our soldiers there earlier in that war? so president obama answering lots of questions here on capitol hill. also this morning, let me bring you up-to-date on that f-15 jet

that crashed in libya overnight. this happened late last night. it was a mechanical failure. the pentagon says that the plane was not shot down and the pilots are safe. >> good news there. a shooting in the south bay has now become a murder investigation. the man who was shot last week in san jose outside of a crowded mcdonald's has died from his injuries. 18-year-old reuben cortez jr. was shot in the chest at point-blank range on wednesday in the parking lot of the mcdonald's near san jose city college. the gunman is still on the loose this morning and police have not arrested anybody. but they say they think that the shooting is gang related. 6:45 right now. one way or another there will be tax extensions and increases on the june ballot. that's the word from governor jerry brown this morning. at a dinner last night brown called out republicans for failing to vote for the tax package. just two republican votes are needed in each house to place the proposed measure on the june ballot, but so far no

republicans are stepping forward. during last night's speech brown said, quote, if you're not going to vote to extend taxes, if you're not going to vote to cut, if you're not going to vote to eliminate redevelopment, so what the blank are you going to do? by the way, if you're not going to do anything, why do you take a paycheck? unquote. as it stands now, a june 7th special election is unlikely. the state budget crunch is pushing plans for a new 49ers stadium ahead a lot faster even though there's no official deal yet. santa clara city leaders gave the 9ers $4 million yesterday so prep work can start at the new proposed site of the new stadium. city leaders are trying to keep the money out of the hand of the state. the money has been set aside for a long time but it could be raided by the state under governor brown's new budget plan. he wants to reeliminate redevelopment money. 6:46 right now.

the giants are off today giving them a chance to rest their bumps and bruises. the good news for giants' fans is the injury to brian wilson is not as bad as first thought. wilson says the rib capable muscle strain will not keep him off the field on opening day. good news there. the manager says the closer could start throwing the ball again tomorrow. two bay area men's teams are still alive in post-season play and they are going to meet up tonight. santa clara and usf go head-to-head in the college insider tournament. the winner advances. usf is the home team with tipoff at 7:00 tonight. on the women's side of the ncaa tournament, how sweet it is to be a cardinal fan this morning, even if you are just a teeny one. st. john's was dominated last night and the cardinals move on to play on saturday.

you have to wonder if the ski resorts are happy about the snow or if they are sick of it. there's so much more snow on the way all along the sierra nevada. we are going to pick up maybe six feet of snow in some spots as we head through the next 72 hours. so there's more on the way. they have already had a lot this season. the good news is we are going to get a little bit of a break from the rain today. we are already noticing that. let me step out of the way for a second. you can see the showers are significantly clearing up, not just the showers. take a look at the cloud cover offshore. it is thinning out. that is our dry break shaping up for the early portion of this day. if you do have to get on outside and take care of outdoor activities, you are going to get a chance to do so today. it won't last long. we have another strong storm on the way. it arrives this evening, late afternoon in the north bay. and we are going to see some pretty heavy rain come down over the bay area overnight tonight. then another stronger system moves through as we head through early thursday. so the two combined aren't going to bring a lot of rain into the

area. maybe upwards of four to five inches in some spots that get the heaviest rain. we are also concerned about the possibility of thunderstorms. there's a lot of instability in our atmosphere. once the storms come through it could create a very, very unstable environment con zusive to the formation of those thunderstorms. so we are watching out for that. temperatures this morning are not too bad. cold enough nor the jacket, though. oakland, 47 degrees. same for hayward. we'll round out the temperatures in the upper 50s. tomorrow, periods of rain and a dangerous morning drive. thursday more dangerous with potential for flooding. a lot of ponding on the roadways. then friday, we'll get a little bit of a break late friday, but more rain coming down for the early portion of your friday. saturday, spotty showers. sunday, a few showers. and then by tuesday, finally, high pressure sets up. and that's going to keep us nice and warm and dry for the second half of next week. we'll talk about that in the coming days. back to you guys. thank you. 6:49 right now.

a local organization marking a very special anniversary this morning. we'll tell you what they are doing to celebrate. we'll check wall street and keeping your netflix que a secret. that's ahead in tech news. and i'll show you where the developing slow spots are and i have an accident bay. bay. this could affect your commute heading southbound. more traffic coming up. feed me! saving you money -- now, that's progressive. call or click today.

an environmental organization is celebrating half a censure hi in restoring the san francisco bay. save the bay is going to hold a memorial planting for one of the founders along the oakland shore line later on this morning. that organization was formed back in 1961 to stop massive bay-filled projects, dutching of raw sewage into the bay and

protecting local ecosystems. in fact, save the bay recently worked with places like the city of san jose to ban single-use plastic bags. 6:52 right now. we'll check the morning commute with mike to see if things are getting better. >> happy anniversary to save the bay. and happy talk like william shackner day. i'm doing it like chandler bing. let's look at the 36 and 87 where we have slowing. we have 32 up to tully road. we'll go to the traffic live shot right now and move over to the area of the sunol grade. we are southbound 680 here. fog is developing over the hills into free month. we'll watch for the congestion out of liver more with a heavy drive off 580 and the altamont pass. the bay bridge toll plaza has a slowdown back to west grand avenue. we'll completely ignore that i ever tried to do a william

shatner impression. thank you. 6:53 right now, the man charged with shooting 19 people in tucson will undergo a mental evaluation. a judge has ordered arizona shooting suspect jared loughner to undergo a mental evaluation in a specialized facility in springfield, missouri, as soon as possible to help determine if he is even competent to stand trial. loughner's attorneys say the move could cause the suspect's mental state to actually worsen. the judge also scheduled a hearing on may 25th to determine if loughner is competent to stand trial. pg&e faces fines of a million dollars per day for failing to produce pipeline safety records. now those fines could get pretty hefty because pg&e says it could take the rest of the year to track down those documents. the utility made that surprising announcement yesterday. the california public utilities commission had asked for those records back in january.

the hearing is now scheduled for monday to look at the potential million-dollar fines. by the way, that september pipeline explosion in san bruno killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes. hundreds of americans are now escaping the potential nuclear dangers in japan. they are back on u.s. soil this morning. we are talking about military families who landed at travis air force base outside of vacaville a short time ago. and christie smith is live now at travis with more on how those families got out of the quake zone and what's next for them. >> reporter: good morning to you, brent. we have been talking about this plane all morning, it just landed about 20 minutes ago. i wanted to show you that you can see the tail of the plane ticking out there. 348 people onboard. these are family members of the america service members. a long flight, about 10 1/2 hours. there were also 24 pets onboard. it seemed like everyone who came off the plane was clutching a baby or a small child this

morning. and there was a real sense of relief. now, these are voluntary evacuations following the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis in japan. the families are now inside of the building here at travis getting help with things like lodging and medicine if necessary and transportation is here available for their next stop if they are going to catch a plane home or wherever they are going. these are among the first flights, but others have already landed in seattle. and this is going to be ongoing, the military is saying, for the fear seebl fore seeable future. reporting live in travis air force base, christie smith, "today in the bay." it is 6:56 right now. we want to check the numbers on wall street this mourning with scott. >> there are two earthquakes that hit overnight, a 6.6 hit last night, but no damage.

the dow industrials are down two points, the nasdaq down one. a bunch of former netflix users are suing the company claiming netflix keeps users data including credit card numbers and what movies they rent even after you cancel your account. that may not sound like a big deal but telling someone what your most rented dvds are is illegal. records of what videos you rent are actually protected under a special law put into place way back in 1998. back to you. that would be like, what's that movie with tom hanks? >> "big." >> thanks a lot. thank you for joining us this morning. the "today" show is coming up next. >> a local news update is coming up in a half hour. have a great day. we'll see you coming up here in a little bit. this is your captain speaking, we are fourteenth in line for takeoff.

looks like it's bumper to bumper on the interstate. i gotta get to cleveland! remove your belt, your watch, your shoes. i wonder what gas costs today. seven dollars for a pillow! an extra bag costs what? i hate traffic! ♪ [ child ] the train is now arriving. [ male announcer ] the train has arrived indeed. amtrak guest rewards members earn up to triple points this spring. details at amtrak.com.

ovmorearn up to triple points this spring. an ltening to ouravoritsong than liste our favngs. t r fari is eatnoizol. e'reheids in ♪