new this morning, san francisco firefighters still on the scene of a three-alarm apartment fire from yesterday. nearly two dozen people are hurt. we'll tell you what they're doing here this morning coming up in a live report. plus breaking his silence. barry bonds may testify in his perjury trial today. and an east bay city decides whether to build a controversial new casino. a live look outside this morning. it's wednesday, april 6th. this is "today in the east bay."

good morning, everyone. i'm scott mcgrew. it is 4:30. it's either early wednesday morning or late tuesday, depending on your frame of reference. christina lauroren joins us wit either forecast. >> maybe you've got to get up at noon, maybe 2:00. when our highs come in today it's going to be pretty nice. a little warmer than we thought it was going to be. we saw temperatures yesterday expected to drop around 60 degrees because of the front that came through and brought clouds and wind yesterday, but it looks like we'll still be able to take these temperatures which are right now in the 40s, maybe a couple of 50s, and bring up them up into the mid-60s so another nice day before the changes arrive. we'll braeeak down when our nex rain system moves through. but first maybe you have to get to work or -- >> or you're going home, who knows.

we'll look at the maze where traffic flows very nice right now. it's a very light volume of traffic. oakland 880 past the coliseum it's moving smoothly for both directions of the nimitz freeway but construction a little further south. i'll tell you about that as well as an accident brewing on the nimitz as well. we'll tell you about that in the next report. nearly two dozen people recovering from injuries, dozens more out of their homes this morning after a big apartment fire in san francisco's tenderloin district. kristi smith is live with more about who's affected and the investigation. good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you. it's hard to believe that the actual call for this fire came in just before 9:00 last night and here it is the next morning and firefighters are still out here. we arrived 20 minutes ago and were told there was some rekimgr rekindling going on in the building. the building actually looks fine from the outside but what i'm

told is that it's the center inside where everything connects and that's where the damage is this morning. so no one is actually staying here in this six-story building, the franciscan tower apartments. some people are being escorted in to get things like medicine because they basically got out with just the clothes on their back. here's what we know this morning. this was a three-alarm fire. there are reports now that it may have started in a trash compactor or a trash chute. many disabled residents needed help getting out. nearly two dozen people hurt. i just spoke with the red cross and they're telling me they're trying to shelter at least 63 people and another 26 are being helped out at another facility that is run by the building managers here. so we're going to keep checking in with people because there still is quite a bit of activity, especially for a fire that happened yesterday. if you are in the area, you certainly want to avoid the 200

block of eddie street because there are still fire trucks out here, red cross out here, a lot of activity and you really can't get through. reporting live in san francisco, kristi smith, "today in the east bay." meanwhile it could be a pivotal day in the barry bonds perjury trial. the defense starts its testimony and, hence, bonds himself could take the stand. of course that is a risk. in other developments, a judge ruled an audio tape inadmissible. the prosecution said the tape contained a conversation between a friend of bonds and bonds' orthopedic surgeon discussing steroids. the prosecution rested its case yesterday afternoon. the contra costa board of supervisors will loan $10 million to doctors medical center in san pablo so it can keep its doors open. the money comes from a county reserve fund which we're told will not affect county serves or require cuts. doctors medical center runs the

largest emergency department in that area with more than 40,000 patients visiting each year. oakland will have to slash another $11 million from its budget. the city had planned to put an $80 parcel tax on the state's special election ballot back in june, but the governor didn't get his way in sacramento, so there is no ballot. then mayor jean quan pictured here asked the city council to create a special ballot for july but the council rejected that idea. oakland was already facing a $46 million deficit. also last night the city council members dumped the city's contract security company, abc security and its owner are accused of illily donating money to oakland city council candidates during the bidding process. the contract will instead go to cypress security. there will not be a casino hotel in richmond. the richmond city council voting

to reject a $1.2 billion waterfront project. the resort would have included two hotels, restaurants, shops and a gaming floor. voters defeated a similar measure to build a casino. the city council now negotiating with a developer to build a non-gaming alternative. drama in the air and on the ground. we have audio from inside the cockpit of united flight 497 forced to make an emergency landing early yesterday morning. smoke in the cockpit forced the plane en route from new orleans to san francisco to return just after takeoff. to make matters worse, pilots suffered a power failure and were pretty much flying blind. >> 497, we are declaring an emergency and please roll equipment for our landing, please. >> we are unable for 10, can you take 19? >> no. >> roger, we are clearing the

runway now. >> we need three minutes to get the runway clear. >> 497, we've lost all our instruments right now and we're going to need just a par. >> make a right turn, the airport is off to your right side. 497, clear to land. you'll be able to make it sir? >> fox-5, this is our aircraft touching down now. >> we're going to need runway 10 operational. 19er is fouled at this time. >> the craft is off the runway. >> the plane was forced to use the shorter runway, blew a tire during the landing causing it to veer off the runway. passengers and crew exited through emergency chutes. everybody is okay but no word on what triggered that emergency. meantime, southwest airlines says it finished inspecting 79 older planes, found five of them have cracks in the aluminum skin.

that's presumably a precursor to the sort of accident that happened last week when a piece of fuselage on a jet peeled away as it flew over arizona. the faa issued an emergency order requiring inspections of certain kinds of 737s. last week's case of metal fatigue raises concerns about the adequacy of safety inspections, which failed to catch that problem. a bay area political star in the running for one of the top 100 most influential people in the world. "time" magazine lists attorney general carmela harris among oprah, president obama and even charlie sheen. the former district attorney's distance on youth crime, criminal rehabilitation and gay marriage have given her the national spotlight. mark zuckerberg is on that list as well. you can vote for what you think is the most influential online at "time" magazine through april

14th. here's an unusual crime. each spring about half of all bees leave their hive to look for a new nest. unfortunately, one east bay woman found out they went to her car. she got bee jacked in downtown pleasanton yesterday. she said she just stepped away a few minutes. eventually a bee keeper was called in to suck them up to safety. that's the first time i've ever said "sucked them up to safety" on a newscast. >> she could get them back and hive jack them. that's my topper this morning. we're looking pretty good right now. this is the front that came through yesterday. beautiful, clear conditions and all of a sudden it clouded up, got a little breezy. that's because we had this front break through the bay area, kind of push that high pressure ridge off to the east. for us today we're a little cooler as a result of the cold air behind it. not as cold as we thought it was going to be so that's good news. it's going to be warmer this afternoon, but we do have rain on the way.

another weather maker moves in as we head through your thursday. this time tomorrow morning when we meet back here it will be raining so mike and i will be here to guide you through those showers and get you to work on time. 49 in hayward and along the peninsula it's a little cooler. san mateo, 49 in san francisco, it just is determined how far your car is from your house. if it's not far you probably don't need the jacket. as we transition the next couple of weeks, we're going to ditch the jacket altogether. 69 in santa rosa, 63 in oakland and 69 later today in los gatos. your seven-day outlook is just moments away so stay tuned for that but let's find out if there's anything happening on the roadways with mike. >> there was something just off to the side of 580. the earlier car hauler has been moved out of the roadway and all lanes cleared on 280 and 580 where they meet. the commute direction westbound is okay. i want to point out one issue in

hayward, an accident northbound 880 at 92. just moved off to the shoulder about four minutes ago so you should have a clear flow as far as the accidents go through there is construction in the area affecting your transition ramps to east and westbound 92. that's fogoing on a few more minutes. further north we have southbound 880 onto southbound 238, that's opposite your commute, that's an issue with construction as well. the live look is the san mateo bridge, a nice easy drive from the east bay to the peninsula. the camera is a little darker than usual but it's also before 5:00 in the morning. >> thank you, mike. coming up, why east bay police were giving teenagers guns. plus workers at a japanese nuclear power plant make major headway capping that radiation leak. you're looking back at that picture. here's some flashing lights. we'll check with mike coming up

you are looking at a very dark picture. that's because it's nighttime. it's 4:44 in the morning. two richmond cops accused of buying guns for underage kids. this is just the beginning of that story. those two police officers are now being investigated by the fbi for allegedly hiring the

teenagers to work for their private security firm. cheryl hurd shows us how the story keeps unraveling. >> reporter: orlando torrez and sergio rios are best friends who dreamed of becoming police officers one day. in 2008 they joined richmond's police explorer program to learn what it's like to be a cop. >> i thought it would be a great opportunity as far as gaining more knowledge and learning more about the laws and so forth, becoming an armed security officer. >> reporter: two young officers, ray thomas and danny harris, headed up the program. rios says they approached him and torrez to work for them as armed security guards. >> they came up to me with the idea that basically they had a company and that they would be obtaining some new contracts. >> reporter: the two say they jumped at the opportunity and say the officers purchased guns for them and let them patrol some of richmond's toughest neighborhoods. but their relationship turned sour when rios and torrez

complained about not getting paid for overtime. soon after that, the two moved on to other jobs. rios took on a security guard position at an emeryville theater. that's when he was approached by two women believed to be connected to chris butler, a former cop and private investigator charged with working with law enforcement to set up people and sell drugs. rios says the women wanted to meet with him. >> they wanted me to basically take one of my firearms so they can hang out with me and basically take nude photos with the firearm. >> reporter: the meeting place, chevy's in san ramon. >> i just think it's crazy for police officers to do something like that but i hope others aren't like that. >> reporter: the richmond police chief put out a statement saying the two officers have been placed on administrative leave and are no longer with the explorer program. richmond pd is working with the d.a.'s office and the fbi to see if any laws are being violated. rios and torrez had the

community's support. >> being tailed, trailed, spied on, set up. whoa, where are we? so i think that we are going to ask for a full investigation. >> reporter: and they say they still want to be cops. >> certain people do certain things. it's not the whole entire police department that works that day. >> reporter: do you still want to be a police officer? >> absolutely. 4:47 now. in japan, radiation no longer pouring into the pacific ocean. workers at that damaged nuclear power plant making progress fixing the leak. they plugged a crack discovered in a maintenance pit. they say the crack was the only one they found but are still looking for other leaks. high level of radiation in the sea near the plant prompted the government to set limits for the first time on the amount of radiation allowed in fish in that area. the dish network is the new owner of blockbuster. the satellite tv company won the auction for the movie rental

chain with a winning bid of $228 million in cash. blockbuster filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy back in september. for more news let's turn to cnbc anchor nicole lapham. >> reporter: futures are higher after a mixed day on wall street yesterday. that's despite a big boost from a lot of m & a activity. texas instruments buying national semi, diamond foods snapping up pringle's brands from p & g. minutes from last month's fed meeting suggest central bankers are split so we're watching this very closely on whether to pull the plug on economic stimulus and tighten rates. asia was mixed overnight on some lackluster reaction to china's latest rate hike because they're watching our inflation situation. europe is a touch lower this morning. oil, we're also looking very closely at those levels. 108 bucks a barrel. gold, a brand new high on global

inflation concerns but also the safety trade because of the concern out of washington that we could have a government shutdown. the dow slipped 6 points to 12,333. the nasdaq composite inched up slightly 2 points to 2791. also making headlines this morning, executives at transocean have decided to give up bonuses they got for the company's safety record last year. transocean, as you well know, is the owner of bp's deepwater horizon rig which exploded last april killing 11 workers and spilling 200 gmillion gallons o oil into the gulf of mexico. so the company under just fire after saying 2010 was an exemplary year for safety. oh, right, despite that accident. now we're hearing execs will donate more than $250,000 funds set up for the victims' family to try to make things right.

new data out showing a late easter, lingering cold weather and gas prices -- this report says sales growth slowed in some categories in march, although shoppers did spend more on clothing and most other items for that matter than last year. online sales grew as well more than usual. think about it. consumers are more focused on saving money on gas so they're shopping online. how much is gas over there? >> it's close to four bucks a gallo gallon. it's just brutal. nicole who never pumps her own gas because she works in new jersey, thank you very much. >> reporter: we're fancy like that. christina loren, meanwhile, looks at your forecast. >> personally, i like saving on the tip in that department so i

don't mind pumping it on my own. i do mind pumping it at 4.15 a gallon. that's just ridiculous. it's cooler out there so you'll probably need a jacket. this morning pull it out of the closet because we're about 5 degrees cooler than we were yesterday at this time. we got rain on the way as we head through tomorrow so leave the jacket out and get the umbrella out. tomorrow we are expecting showers at this time and the showers will last for the most part all day long. the good news is the system is moving in faster than we originally forecast so it's not going to linger on friday. that's right, the home opener looks pretty good. it will be crisp out there. it does tend to get cold at at&t park but if you will be out there, it should be nice and no rain on friday. 49 in san francisco, 45 sunnyvale. turning over to the 60s today. 68 in san rafael, 69 up in napa and east bay, hey, take a look at your numbers. 69 in livermore, 68 in

fairfield. as we head throughout tomorrow afternoon it will be warm enough for the potential of some thunderstorms, but this is what it looks like when it comes to the timing of this next system. 4:00 a.m., widespread shower activity from the south bay up through the north bay. the whole system clears out by the time we hit 6:00 p.m. thursday and stay dry all the way throughout your friday. numbers plummet, 56 degrees is it for tomorrow. 62 by friday and back to the 70s next week. next week overall looks warm and dry and, like spring should feel here in the bay area. the weather may be good for that home opener but otherwise bay area baseball is not looking that great. almost a week into the season, the a's only have one win. they look like they were on the brink of beating toronto in the tenth up by one run. the bullpen could not hold on. a walk-off two-run homer. the a's are done. the two teams play again this afternoon. coming up, smart snacks at

the movies. the theater is giving you healthy options. and scott just showed you flashing lights coming up past the coliseum. i'll let you know what the latest is for the nimitz and what's been going on since we last took a look. k

4:55 now. let's take a look at what we're working on for later on "today in the bay." and for that we join laura garcia-cannon. there's big dmiengz caltrain

passengers. we'll have all the details for you. plus a few details about the governor's plan to close dozens of state parks. he hasn't released his hit list yet and that's making a lot of people nervous. and this morning we're also letting the genie out of the bottle. barbara eden joins us live to talk about her new book and how most of her childhood training actually took place here in the bay area. meanwhile mike joins us. another traffic break. >> that's when traffic is picking up on the nimitz. this is past 880 and the coliseum. we had flashing lights coming from the bottom of the screen. a few minutes later i saw a traffic break and a slow drive heading north all the way up into downtown. between fruit veil and 23rd is where the construction continues and that should be cleared in the next few minutes. at the limit approaching the maze from all directions. no problems. i saw earlier slowing heading north out of the east bay but

that has cleared up heading across the carquinez bridge. next time you go to the movie theater, instead of buttery popcorn and sugary soda, you could order a healthy snack. there are now smart movie snacks. a package deal with fruit chips, bottled water, air popped corn chips and a trail mix bar. amc says it developed the snack because customers have been asking for smarter and healthier snack choices. there are about 450 calories, 10 grams of fat in the amc snack pack. coming up, the vital ba area railtem sysm making deep cuts. we'll have a live report.

new this morning, the defense is at-bat in the barry bonds perjury trial and the former giants slugger could take the stand today. we'll have a live report coming up