morning over the bay bridge. it is friday, april 1st. this is "today in the bay." good morning. thank you so much for joining us. i'm laura garcia-cannon. >> and i'm brent cannon. time to check your friday and weekend forecast with christina. i love the sound of that. friday and the weekend, finally we have arrived. we have a pretty good looking weekend on tap, but not as nice as the last couple of days. and today, the last abnormally warm day for this time of year. 65 degrees. that's your temperature right now at 5:00 a.m. in san francisco. a really mild start. we are headed towards the 80s once again today. i've got your full forecast on the way, but first we'll get you to work on time with mike inouye. good morning, christina. much dryer roads than last week. much more pleasant weather, obviously, but more folks are heading around the area because of a nice commute and a nice drive. the approach to the bay bridge

is not a major issue. here's a live look at the toll plaza, a very light volume of traffic going on there. no issues near the approach. we have a big problem that could be caused by lights out near the civic center. we'll have more coming up. an overnight power outage left hundreds of people in the dark and could cause trouble with their commute this morning. christie smith is live with more on what happened. good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you. a very dark start to your friday morning here in san francisco. we are at hays and gulf streets where pg&e crews have been working on this since 12:30 this morning. an outage leaving 6600 customers in the dark. a lot of them in this neighborhood all along van nuys

and on here. a lot of these street lights are not working at all either. pg&e says it is an underground equipment failure here near gulf street. one witness said she saw smoke coming from under the ground. she thinks it was coming from a manhole cover. overnight the alarms were going off because the power was off here. this morning we have seen crews out here, they are putting out flares doing their best. san francisco police are directing traffic at the busiest intersections. if you live in these affected neighborhoods, give yourself extra time because it is still dark at this hour. reporting live in san francisco, christie smith, "today in the bay." >> generators from us could help to wake people up this morning. thank you. a civil rape case will occur today. the jury will decide whether to award millions of dollars to a

young woman who was gang-raped by de anza baseball players back in 2007. the lawyer says the girl was drinking at a house party in san jose but was two drunk to give concept to have sex with the young men. several soccer players burst in and took the girl to the hospital. the case was never tried in criminal court. police arrested a dozen people at an east bay hotel overnight as they broke up a prostitution ring. that includes ten women and two men. they were arrested last night as part of an all-day operation by the dublin police department. officers hope the arrests will help reduce prostitution activity. pg&e is once again in the hot seat this morning accused of trying to pull over, pull one over, rather, on the city of capitola. pg&e installed 17 smartmeters at

seven damaged homes and businesses. the city council voted to ban the smartmeters in february. pg&e says the utility has to replace the old meters with a new controversial smartmeter. ed lee says it will be a few more weeks before he names a permanent replacement for george gascone. he's concerned about several issues during the last month, including several videos released by the public defender's office showing alleged misconduct by officers. so far some 83 cases have been dismissed because of the videos. lee says he wants to choose somebody who can respond and correct any potential problems. it is 5:04 right now. if you want to catch a flick on mondays or tuesdays this month, go somewhere other than san francisco's castro theater. the historical movie house is taking a few days off going from seven to five days through april.

owners say they are not sure how long the shorter week will last. while they admit it is a cost-cutting measure, they also say the theater is not in a lot of financial trouble. in the age of netflix they rely on niche programming and celeb trity appearances to try to stay open. right now april looks like a slow month. we have an update to breaking news we brought you yesterday. a 2-year-old boy found in a walmart parking lot in pleasanton is now back with his mother this morning. police say the boy was found at 3:00 yesterday morning. by 6:00 they got a frantic 911 call from the boy's mother who woke up and noticed he was gone. the boy apparently let himself out through the front door. now the doorknob is a lot lower on that door to accommodate people in wheelchairs. the entire complex where they live was built to americans with disabilities act standards making it a lot easier for the little boy to let himself out. >> i can't imagine the fear she must have had. the america's cup may be two

years ago, but san francisco is not wasting any time in the planning department. the city announced the people's plan. a proposal for how to handle the 200,000 onlookers expected to attend the event along the waterfront. the proposal stresses the pedestrian, bike and public transit options. plans include modifying the muni lines and offering bike rentals as well as restricting traffic on some streets. the public can comment on the pro pole sal proposal until may 31st. san francisco is looking blue today to support autism awareness. the light up the blue campaign kicks off autism awareness day. the actual day is saturday, but prominent buildings across the blob globe will go blue to impact this cause. this is when it was orange to honor the baseball world champions, the giants, in the city last fall.

kind of weird that they are light gt it blue for autism and happen to be playing dodger blue. don't get confused. it is for autism, not the dodgers. >> it would be wonderful to find a cure for that one. the efforts to fix roadways in a number of bay area neighborhoods continues this morning. in hercules eight families still cannot go home because of a slide. four homes are just not safe to live in. crews are keeping an eye on other homes there. in mountain view three homes in the sahara mobile village park are in danger of lieding sliding into steven's creek. there's talk of building up a retaining wall to shore up the homes. and one lane of croix road is open now. the road was buried by eight feet of mud earlier this week. pg&e is working to restore power to those out of it this morning. and officials are trying to figure out what to do with tons of rock from a slide here. experts need more dry weather to

try to assess the situation. and a neighborhood in the north bay is still cleaning up after a minor slide. it happened on scenic avenue last week. the debris was cleared but crews are still doing pointline repairs this morning. work should be finished today. so really, you saw the damage throughout the bay area. yeah. the deal is, weatherwise, we are looking for a cooling trend, not more rain but cooler, right? >> yeah, a little bit cooler today. i mean, do you think 88 degrees is hot for this time of year, which is where we ended up in los gatos yesterday? boy, it was toasty at times yesterday. 87 degrees in napa. 86 in santa rosa. these are all records. and right now the city of san francisco has already bypassed their average daytime high. and it is only 5:08 in the morning. they are at 64 degrees this morning. the warm up is still out there. we have the warm air overhead. and one more day of abnormally warm conditions will persist until the cool down really kicks into high gear tomorrow.

the trough of low pressure is moving into the area to bring about shower activity in the north bay, but i think more so we'll have mostly cloudy skies for tomorrow. take a look at the temperatures right now. 65 degrees in san francisco. average daytime highs usually register about 3:00 or 4:00 p.m. this time of the year. near 61 degrees. we have bypassed the average by four degrees and will continue to climb heading throughout the afternoon. these are your forecasted highs, bay area. enjoy the beautiful weather. 80 degrees in los gatos today. 80 in oakland. and 83 degrees up in santa rosa. that should be a little more comfortable for you up there where it felt like 90 degrees yesterday. mike inouye, how is it looking on the roadways right now? it feels great through antioch. it will feel a lot slower in a half hour. even on a friday highway 4 will slow down, but right now we are at the limit coming south of the antioch bridge. a note for the area, the j. mack ferry service is still under repair. it is a small ferry, but it will

add miles to those folks out of the north bay. the vallejo ferry is also using bus service for the 405 service. yesterday we had interruptions for the 7:30 and 8:30 ferries. we'll keep that in mind. there could be delays there. keep checking the websites for delays. the cartinas and venetian bridges are moving smoothly. an 18-minute drive from the eastshore freeway to the cartinas bridge. a lot of folks could be heading there. there's a parade going on in the financial district, so a few hundred people will be out there acting silly for april fools. we have the lights out near the civic center west near laguna because of power outages in the area. keep that in mind. christie smith is on the scene. meanwhile, a light volume past the coliseum. that's 880 that will get crowded on a friday light still. there's an app for that, but it may not be all that it is cracked up to be. the cable company that is changing things up. plus the rest of your news before the bell is coming up in a live report. i'm bob redell. here's a guy who probably rings

a bell. find out who and what will be rrawling around here at the onie mesconnir i in san francisco. a preview of wondercon is coming up in a live report. feed me! saving you money -- now, that's progressive. call or click today. [ male announcer ] why do so many car companies compare themselves to toyota? maybe it's because toyota has more hybrids on the road than all other automakers combined. like the 50-mpg-rated prius, the best selling hybrid in america. and prius was also named a best overall value of the year. plus, every new toyota comes with toyotacare, a complimentary maintenance plan with roadside assistance. we're #1 for a reason. come see for yourself. hurry in for the best selection. ♪

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an listening there'to ouravorite songs. there's nothing we love more than listening to our favoritngs. but ouvorite tng is eintotino's pizza rolls. but our farite thing is eating toti pizol ♪ wre the kids in america ♪ oh, oh, oh good morning to you. a live look outside this morning. nice temperatures once again. a little mild out there. we'll check the forecast with christina. we are keeping an eye on the markets this morning to see how they are going to react to the latest monthly jobs report, which is due out pretty soon. nicole lapin is live at cnbc headquarters with what we might expect. nicole? >> reporter: hey, good morning, brent. futures are indeed higher ahead of the big report coming out in 15 minutes. the march jobs report. economists expect a second straight month of solid gains looking for an increase in about

195,000 in payrolls. most of the gapes likely came from the private sector. the unemployment rate is also seen holding steady at 8.9%. unemployment as you know has dropped a percent since november. all right. switching gears a little bit, this is actually really cool. i saw this this morning. my invite got lost in the mail. groupon is now offering two tickets to the royal wedding. and then an even bigger package to go to the after party and a glass of wine at westminster abbey. it is fancy. there's also a guide it tour with the prince and includes miniature flags and rice for throwing. so, brent, i think you should check out groupon. take laura. take the triplets. >> it will scare the heck out of the prince. he'll be like, uh-oh, you are going to end up with triplets. >> can you imagine? who would be in line for the throne?

the firstborn? >> reporter: laura said it would be cool if it weren't a big groupon april fool's joke. >> you are going to someone's wedding, but it is phyllis and george. >> i have to tell you i was hammered with april fool's jokes before 3:15 this morning. >> it was fabulous. >> it was not even 3:30 and i'm already getting hammered with them. >> loved it. >> reporter: all i heard was i'm hammered at 4:00 in the morning. >> i wish. >> reporter: whatever you do with the triplets is your business. have a good weekend, guys. >> thank you very much. well, san diego has comiccon but we here in the bay area have something better, wondercon. >> bob redell is joining us to tell us what that is all about. >> reporter: brent and laura, i have come here bright and early to the mascone center. they have yoda, they have darth vader, they have yoda, they have

the ex-wing fighter, they have princess lea and the jobless prisoner outfit. very offensive to me. and, of course, princess lea in the best outfit. unfortunately, these are out of my price range of $8, but this is the type of stuff you can see when you come here to wondercon. david, good to see you again. >> good seeing you again. >> reporter: i think people would be surprised at the actors you'll have. ryan reynolds of "the green lantern." when we were talking earlier, that's usually -- you expect it to be dout down south in comiccon. what do you think about wondercon? >> well, last year we had about 40,000 people. hollywood realizes there are dedicated fans who blog and tweet and all that kind of stuff. they can literally own the weekend if they come with something big. as you mentioned, we have a lot

of talent here. it is unusual for a show like comiccon, but we have something great here in the bay area as wondercon. >> reporter: you are still going to have 40,000 people, but compared to comiccon is they have about $100,000. >> now we have a lot of local and foreign press come in for wondercon. it could be a comic book company. our fans and aten degrees are the early doctors. they are the people who get out there and tweet and have facebook pages. >> reporter: it makes sense up here with silicon valley here. quickly, "cowboys and aliens." i got in the theater right after the trailer. this movie seems to be getting a lot of buzz. my wife who is not into sci-fi was talking about it. what have you heard?

>> everything i have seen is good. it has a stellar cast. harrison ford, daniel craig, it looks pretty good. we are excited to see what john has to say tomorrow. >> reporter: it runs through the weekend. doors open at noon. you spend $40 you get a three-day pass. $20 is for each day. you can go to comic-con.org to get more information here from the moscone center. we have more guests coming up in a little bit. stick around. >> including ryan reynolds? >> reporter: dream on. >> work on that, buddy. christina wants to say hi. >> the weird thing is i'm at the car wash the other day. they have a thing that you get the birthday card, the card for your birth year, it tells you who was born in your year. harrison ford, when was he born, any guesses? >> how old is he? i don't know. >> 1942. >> wow.

>> i was kind of -- world war ii was in full swing then. it kind of sounds really old and he doesn't seem that old at all. kind of shocking. >> not too bad. >> i'm sure he appreciates that, brent. >> just a little something i picked up at the car wash. you never know. >> it is okay, you have ali mcbeal with him. the bay area looks good. all week long we have had sunshine. it has been such a break from what we experienced last week. and that vitamin d has probably put you in a better mood. it certainly put me in a better mood all week long. 57 in san mateo. we are already at 65 degrees in san francisco. if you are waking up in the city by the bay, forget about the jacket. go straight to the short sleeves. we are headed towards the upper 70s heading throughout the afternoon. now something we are keeping an eye on is the pollen levels. over the past couple of days the pollen forecast has been moderate to moderate high.

and not quite yet in the very high range, but that could happen heading into this weekend. still, if you suffer from allergies, keep the medicine handy heading into the next couple of days. especially because the winds pick up this afternoon as they have the past couple of days. 79 in redwood city. 80 in los gatos. 81 in san jose making for a gorgeous afternoon, especially if you are someone who gets to get on outside for your lunch break when the temperatures will be in the mid-70s. we'll let you know what's on tap for the weekend coming up. back to you guys. sounds good. thank you. >> 5:20, david gregory is going to join us live to talk about the budget battle happening on capitol hill. and a bay area transit agency moves forward to offer free rides to the homeless. and i have a note for south bay commuters today as well as a look at what's going on in the city and around this friday light commute. you never know what you are going to find.

getting around will be a lot easier for those who need help getting around in santa clara. a plan was just agreed to give the homeless free rides. the program begins this month and the idea is to help them get to medical appointments and job interviews. 3500 people per year are expected to take advantage of that program. it is going to cost the county about $110,000 per year. right now i want to take a peek at your friday morning commute with mike inouye. >> good morning, brent. a light volume of traffic is going on, especially in the south bay. but here's a check on the northbound routes. call out the fact, this is no joke, folks, this is going on tonight. the sabre cats are back playing their third game of the season. i think they are playing the iowa barnstormers. yeah. folks are going to be wearing those sabre cat jerseys.

keep that in mind moving through the area. livermore is smooth out of the altamont pass. a 14-minute drive. this will extend for another half hour until the speeds start to slow down for this friday. the rest of the approach to the bay bridge is looking nice for 580 and 880 through oakland. the east shore freeway, no major issues approaching the toll plaza. light volume there with no issues of concern. it is a smooth drive, including out of the area. here's a look at antioch where we'll look at the speed limit going on past l street. that's a 66. interesting, look at the 56 through bay point. watch for additional slowing. so far it is just a blip going on. the j mack ferry is still out of service. take the road as you have for the last few days. there are lights out near civic center going on this morning. christie smith is on the scene to tell us what's happening there. this is all the way west to laguna. on saturday i'll be in japantown hosting a concert. that will be a fun time if the weather holds up.

it should be a good time. 5:24. possibly damming testimony in the barry bonds trial. we'll have details on that coming up next. and if being called the new drunk driving, so get ready to pay if you are caught texting behind the wheel this morning. i'm marla tellez. i'll tell you what you need to know about the latest crackdown coming up. and a light at the end of the tunnel for a bay area clinic facing pretty serious financial trouble. and here's a live look outside this morning across the bay bridge. a nice looking shot there, even though it is cooler. pretty nice weather on next few next few days. we'll keep you posted up coming up in a few. maybe it's because toyota has more hybrids on the road than all other automakers combined. like the 50-mpg-rated prius, the best selling hybrid in america. and prius was also named a best overall value of the year. plus, every new toyota comes with toyotacare, a complimentary maintenance plan with roadside assistance.

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t r fari is eatnoizol. 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. i walk with my sister. our relationship has gone to a whole new level because of training together. you meet the most wonderful, inspiring people. when you accomplish those 60 miles, it's truly life-changing. (man) register today for the... because everyone deserves a lifetime. it is a dark morning in san francisco where 6600 pg&e customers are in the dark. i'm christie smith, i'll tell you why and what's going on this

morning to try to fix it. plus, new radiation fears from japan. we'll tell you about the impact it could have on fish here locally. and overnight the sales tax jumped to nearly 10% in some bay area cities. and a live look this morning at the south bay. pretty nice weather on tap overall. a little cooler for friday, april 1st. this is "today in the bay." and good morning, everybody. thank you for joining us. i'm brent cannon. >> i'm laura garcia-cannon. another great day on tap. we'll check the forecast with christina. >> we had a chance to say it was going to snow today. we could have. it is april fool's day. we missed it. >> it is not going to snow, but triple digits. >> some people might believe that, though, because it feels so hot. >> i know, i know. it was so warm yesterday. i have a good friend who i we want to college with in santa

rosa. she said it was cooking out there. this morning we are starting out mild. it won't be that warm this afternoon, but it will be pretty nice this afternoon. we could break some records for some of the warmest temperatures overnight lows for this date. we'll check into that. right now we are looking to the 80s and upper 70s heading throughout the afternoon. we'll break down the forecast in detail. after all, thes the weekend. the numbers look pretty good. that's all i'm going to tell you for now. back to you. we'll take it from here. we have a change of plans. very light volume of traffic on the maze with a nice, easy drive for folks down the east shore freeway. a note, though, this weekend for folks heading to tahoe. the cartinas and venetian bridges are moving smoothly. i just got a text here. first of its kind in california. today kicks off the distracted driving awareness month. don't check your texts while you are driving because -- oh, i'm

sorry. marla is out there. what do you have going on regarding this campaign? >> reporter: hey, mike. you got the text i just sent you, right? >> i did. >> reporter: okay, good. we are set up here at the dumbarton bridge toll plaza here to show you some people who are doing what they are not supposed to be doing, and that is texting or talk pg on their cell phone while driving if they don't have a hand-free device. if you are caught this month it is going to cost you a pretty penny. here's what's happening statewide, more than 225 local agencies and more than 100 chp officers are going zero tolerance, mining they are going to be looking for you using your cell phone without a hand-free device or texting. if you are caught, you are looking at a fine of $100. a second offense is much higher.

some of the local agencies taking part include fremont, danville and palo alto police departments. the studies show that texting while driving can delay reaction time just as severely as having the blood alcohol content of a legally drunk driver. now, here's some good news, though. this crackdown comes at a time when new numbers just released today show highway deaths in this country have dropped to the lowest levels in more than 60 years. the transportation department estimates just under 33,000 people were killed on u.s. roads in 2010. that's the fewest number of deaths since 1949. the drop is attributed to more people wearing seat belts, better safety equipment in cars and efforts to stop drunk driving. now, here are tips on how to help you resist the urge to text and drive or talk on your phone when you shouldn't be. put your phone out of reach when you get in your car or just turn it off. for many of us that is not an

option. so just pull over to respond to a text or take a call if need be. now, you can also consider using one of the apps that holds calls and incoming texts while you are driving. that's something to consider this morning. now, brent, it is interesting to think that 20 years ago it was hard, it was challenging to get drivers to put on that seat belt. well, last year new numbers showed that more than 96% of drivers are buckled up. so it may take some time, but eventually i think we'll get the idea that texting and driving are not a good combo. >> absolutely. thank you, marla. appreciate it. while we are talking about handing out more tickets the chp is having more to say on this. the chp handed out 200,000 more tickets in 2009 than 2007. driver advocates say a lot of police departments are handing out more tickets to bring in more money. they are having a lot of budget

problems. the chp brought in $50 million more than the past few years because of additional tickets but there are more violences these days. there are more people talking and texting as marla talked about. there are other people having economic problems and not paying for things like car insurance and vehicle fees and that's causing tickets as well. it is 5:33 right now. we have an update on an overnight power outage in san francisco that left hundreds in the dark and could cause more trouble for the morning commute. "today in the bay's" christie smith is joining us with the latest. good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you. we have quite a few pg&e truxs out here this morning. two behind me, two off to the side here, and they seem to keep coming to get the power back on. they have been at it since 12:30 this morning. pg&e says this underground equipment failure that happened overnight happened here at hays and gulf streets. now this is an update affecting 430 customers this morning.

that's down from the high of 6600 customers overnight. most of them in the neighborhood of hays valley and neighborhoods west all the way from van eys to octavia. it is hit and miss. some of the intersections and street lights are totally dark. others are just fine and have been all morning. not sure exactly when this entire situation is going to be repaired, yet we are in touch with pg&e this morning. san francisco police are out here directing traffic in the busier intersections. other intersections have flares down. that has been going on so long that some of the flares have burned out. we are seeing drivers trying to make the best of it coming to a stop even though the intersection is totally dark. for quite a few customers it will be a slow and dark friday morning, but the good news is they have some power back on for at least quite a few customers. wrote reporting live in san francisco, christie smith for

"today in the bay." an east bay teacher is accused of lewd acts with a student and is now behind bars this morning. charles redmond was arrested in san diego on monday accused of inappropriately touching an eighth grade boy and making lewd comments to him and other boys at park middle school in antioch. he's scheduled to be extradited to contra costa county next week. testimony continues today in the barry bonds perjury trial. the prosecution has one more witness before it can rest its case. now yesterday bonds' personal shopper kathy hoskins told the court she saw trainer greg anderson inject bonds, but she says she doesn't know exactly what was in the syringe. however, she did say that bonds told her, quote, it is a little something for when i go on the road and it can't be detected. bonds personal physician, arthur ting, contra digited previous testimony saying he never talked to bonds former business manager about alleged steroid use. 5:35 right now. here in the u.s. the epa and fda

are boosting their monitoring of radiation. the move comes after low levels of radiation turned up in rainwater, tap water and milk in several cities, including the bay area. now as radiation levels are rising in seawater around the fukushima plant, concern is turning to the fish swimming in it. a berkeley engineering professor is tracking the migration of radiation from japan. >> many fish products are imported from japan to the united states, but it is -- it takes time. it does not -- it is not imported so quickly. >> professor eun says radiation particles in the water will sink to the bottom of the ocean or become dluted in the food chain making the fish safe to eat. the lyon-martin clinic will stay open despite budget woes.

donors stepped forward but help is still needed. lyon-martin is $150,000 short of the april fund-raising goal and some $350,000 shy of its ultimate goal. that clinic caters to the gay and transgender community. that i think things are going to be pricier in some bay area cities today. the sales tax is going up in city cities. union city is at 10.25%. san leandro is 10%. concord is at 9.75%. novato and santa rosa, 9.5%. the hikes were approved in november by voters in each city. san francisco mayor ed lee is doing his best to side it's step an unusual proposal from peta. the animal rights group wants to rename the tenderloin district. that's the kind of beef and peta has new suggestions including tempe. mayor lee wants to focus on changing the neighborhood's

reputation. here's his quote. he says, i want to get ourselves into focus on the transformation of our lives, the transformation of the store fronts and the businesses along mid-market. lee plans to take representatives from tech companies on a walk through the tenderloin next week to talk about plans to change the area. >> that is really interesting, though. >> why don't they call it the spinach leaf? something good for you. throwing that out there. let's go to christina now. >> is it wrong that i like the name that stand right now? i think it is a fine name. we are looking pretty good right now as high pressure is firmly in control, but it has taken a little bit of a shift to the east. now it is pretty much centered right over the four corners region. you can see that right here. clouds are arcing up and around that big strong ridge of high pressure that was able to get our temperatures out of the upper 50s from last week, closer to 90 degrees. we had 88 in los gatos yesterday. 87 degrees up in napa. we'll get a little bit of a cool

down heading to this weekend. a trough will arrive. i don't think we are going to see much rain out of this, maybe some light scattered showers up in the north bay. i'm calling it mostly cloudy for your saturday. sunday is your day for outdoor plans if you would like to make them. it should be pretty nice. 65 degrees in san francisco already. the average high in the city soft san francisco is about 61 degrees for the month of april. we have already bypassed that and will continue to climb heading throughout the day. we are keeping our eye on this today, our high pollen levels. keep the allergy medicine handy today and tomorrow. your offenders are pollen, ash and juniper. we'll update you on this heading throughout the week as allergies are problematic. temperatures in the 70s along the peninsula. readings in the north bay looking good. the south bay will be one of the warmest areas across the bay area today. mike, you have been talking about this stupid parade all day. what is that all about? let me clarify what she's talking about in just a second. we'll look over here at antioch

right now where we have a little slowing going on near 56 right near l street. oh, man, it will be okay, guys. no one to apologize for this one. highway 4 is moving smoothly to the maze with a nice drive to the bay bridge. highway 24 is a good drive. very light volume. of course, it is friday light. here's a live look at the bay bridge as we talk about folks heading out of oakland and over to san francisco. a nice, easy drive so far picking up over the last ten minutes. now the financial district of san francisco is where the st. stupid parade is going on. that's the parade christina is talking about. a lot of folks are having fun there because of april fool's day. we have work going on near the electrical issues. 400 people are still out of power near civic center and west laguna. traffic signals will be affected there as well. back to you guys. 5:40 right now. it is april fool's day, but there's a joke that doesn't have a lot of people smiling this morning. we'll show it to you next. and i'm bob redell live in

san francisco. guess who we are hanging out with? there he is. must be wondercon.ouiv lweeou l center coming up.

5:43 right now. the monthly jobs report released just minutes ago. tracie potts is live in washington now with the details. tracie, good or bad news? >> reporter: good news. actually better than economists predicted. the jobless rate down ever so slightly from last month, only about .10 a point that i felt didn't predict a shift there because of more people coming into the job market, but here's the big news. 216,000 new jobs created last month. more than economists said even predicted. that is more than we saw in february. so now we have two straight months of robust growth. the jobless rate is actually the lowest in two years. this is the most jobs that we have actually seen created since

last may. so this is good news. also, some revisions in january. another 5,000 jobs more than previously reported. so all of this on an upward trend. it looks like businesses are higher more. in fact, earlier this month the business roundtable did a survey to find more than half of the large company that is are their members will hire more this year. bottom line, 2.5 million new jobs by the end of the year possibly. >> that could be a good turn-around for a lot of folks. thank you. an april fool's joke is not going over well with some folks in san leandro. check out this article in "the san leandro times." it says that a nuclear power plant is coming to san leandro and asking people to come to the ribbon cutting ceremony. it did not get the laugh a lot

of people there at the paper were looking for. >> they were talking about the marina being a great place to keep it cool. >> it is distasteful. comic book and action fans will converge in san francisco today for wondercon 2011. >> "today in the bay's" bob redell is getting a sneak peek at wondercon. >> a man of steel himself. >> reporter: come out here and meet actors, directors of the new sci-fi movies. you can also come out to see what the newest releases are in the comic book world. anna marie white is here. thank you for getting up early. what i think is interesting and remember talking to you last year is that you kind of bring back some comicbooks that faded away. one you bring back is "godzilla." >> it has been out for a decade or so. we launched on the first issue

of the new ongoing series for gonzilla. we are debuting it here at wondercon. >> reporter: you did different covers for comic books all over the country. godzilla is crushing those others. how do you decide what to bring back? >> well, it depends on what the property is, but a lot of times it is because somebody in the building just loves the property. we have a guy that is coming to help us with the show who is a huge godzilla fan and helped us to push to remember this property. this is the fact that we got over 80 individual retail stores around the country to get a special cover. it shows that people are interested in this brand. >> reporter: i miss g.i. joe, transformers and ghostbusters. it didn't have zombies in it, but do you have anything like

that? >> i have infestation here. we took all these different brand and put zombies in them. this is the first issue here that we are looking at. then you have two issues of the g.i. joe world and in the star trek world and transformers world and ghostbusters world with zombies. you have a zombie stay puff. you have everything. >> reporter: it seems like zombies are making a comeback in all the hollywood movies out there. anna marie white, good to see you. we are talking about hollywood. coming up later, we'll touch base on "cowboys and ail yeps." it is a new movie not out yet. the director is going to be here. this starts at noon today and runs through sunday. >> $40 to get in will get you a pass for the whole weekend?

>> reporter: $40 is for the whole weekend. otherwise it is $20 per day. >> listen mr. sarcasm, your time is up. thanks a lot. let's go to christina to check the friday and weekend forecast. >> yeah, if you are someone headed out to wondercon, you can probably get away with wearing your spandex without the jacket. the temperatures won't be that bad this weekend. high pressure is firmly in control of our weather pattern. it has taken a little shift to the east. it is centered over the four corners region, but still impacting the forecast for today bringing temperatures into the 80s. we have changes on the way as low pressure moves into the bay area heading into your saturday. in fact, we'll see an increase in clouds as early as tonight. this morning we are starting out really mild. when you walk out the front door in the city, in particular, you are in for a treat. 65 degrees at 5:48 in the

morning. it feels like the summertime around here. by noon today our temperatures are already climbing into the 70s. take a look at these numbers. 70 degrees at noon in oakland. 74 in santa rosa. and 69 degrees in san mateo. i want to point out a couple things here. as you can see, we have the green inching in. that's an indication of the onshore flow shaping up as early as noon. but it is not going to impact the south bay. watch the south bay. you see the red here, that's the warmest temperatures across the bay area. temperatures in the 80s tomorrow. a big-time drop off, not bad for this time of the year, though. 62 degrees. that's average for this time of the year in the city of san francisco. 73 on sunday. really nice day on monday. tuesday looks good as well. and it is started to get nice. that's why we live here in the bay area, the beautiful weather. over to you, brent. thank you. the a's are getting ready for the home opener to host seattle and the first pitch is slated for 7:05 tonight. it is a three-game series. during the final game, which is sunday, the a's will donate the

proceeds from ticket sales to relief events in japan. a dollar of every ticket sold will go to the red cross. now sunday's game is at 1:05. the a's also have established a new website where you can donate to help out in japan. meantime, the giants are looking to redeem themselves after losing their season opener. it was a tough 2-1 loss last night. a little bit of the festivities here. a beautiful evening for baseball. jonathan sanchez will be on the mound for the giants tonight. a tough time yesterday, though. tonight's game is at 7:10. 5:50 right now. stanford women are getting ready for another go at the ncaa title. they have to go through texas a&m to make it. they will face uconn or notre dame if they win. why budget matters at schools are now a laughing matter.

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welcome back. it is 5:53. the south bay has a slightry raised volume of traffic, but no major slowing. highway 87 is showing speeds closer to 60. that's not a big deal for a friday, but we have the issue of the hp pavilion. the sabre cats are playing. they started their season back up playing the iowa barnstormers. there's activity in the city streets after work there. we are looking at livermore getting into work. a 14-minute drive for the westbound direction, but suddenly over the last few minutes we have two reports of the same accident past the livermore airport. we have reports of a number of cars, maybe even five are involved in the accident. so far no major slowing. it is only a couple minutes for

the senators sensors to react there. a smooth drive near the castro valley wide. and now 880 and 92, no problems over the water. further north, a live look at oakland shows you traveling north past the coliseum. a nice, easy, light drive there. the headlights will be an issue over the next half hour. we'll see how things develop heading to the bay bridge. the toll plaza shows a steady volume of traffic. no delays or metering lights. friday light means a 6:30 turning on for the lights. a possible government shutdown is now a little more than a week away, but it looks like the republican-led house is ready to offer a compromise. house speaker john boehner says he's willing to talk about compromise in the spending bill. last month the gop voted to cut $60 billion from this year's budget. but now boehner says he's willing to reduce the cuts in half to about $30 billion. congress does need to make a decision on a new budget by april 9 or we face a possible

federal government shutdown. you might notice more rows and rows of gift cards when at the grocery store these days. scott mcgrew says he wanted to know, so he took a look. >> reporter: it is not dozens of cards or hundreds of them, there are thousands. build-a-bear to olive garden, and you wonder, why does safeway sell all the gift cards? the answer is totally simple. safeway owns the company that makes the gift cards. a subsidiary called black hawk networks is based in the east bay. from safeway in northern california to vons and domenicks out in the midwest, the cards are just about everywhere. now, where the heavy lifting really takes place is the network. blackhawk has a computerized system that adds and deducts keeping tracks of all the cards, carrying millions of dollars. we'll talk about the business of gift cards sunday morning on "press here" after "meet the

press" sunday morning at 9:00. we'll talk to one of the people as well who invented the gps system on what's ahead. hint? you'll be able to find everything from your car keys to your dog via satellite. >> that's sad if you have to look that way. thank you very much. a stand-up comic with ties to san jose is coming to the rescue of a bay area high school. angela johnson is raising money to save the arts and music programs at lincoln high school, her alma mater. budget cuts forced the programs to the bring of extinction. the school would like to raise $60,000 to keep the classes afloat. a special show will be held on sunday at the san jose improv with all the proceeds going to lincoln high school. >> if you want to do anything in arts, you will probably go to lincoln high school. so to hear that school lost their arts department, their funding for that, it kind of really made me sad. i was like, that's not okay. we definitely have to do something. >> more than 700 students at lincoln high are happy to have

johnson's help. programs like jazz, choir and musical theater are in jeopardy if the necessary funds are not raised. she's pretty funny. you can check her clips out on youtube. a label maker has won a world award. >> they won the world class award for their label on the wineries here in 2008. the special part about the label is that it separated into two pieces held together by the embossed red seal. you can see it there. the opener said the most difficult part was breaking the label into two pieces with a seal binding them together. when asked how it is done, he says it is a secret. they say if you like the label you'll like the wine, usually. >> if you can't pick and don't know about wipes, pick a label you like. there you go. 5:57 right now. 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.