good morning. i'm christie smith live in oakland. could california's financial situation be so bad that we lose near rea month of public school instruction? that's what's being discussed at the state level. we'll talk about that coming up in a live report. and we'll talk about the results for an important election for bay area schools as well. plus, nurses at an east bay hospital prepare to walk off the job. a live look outside this morning. it's wednesday, may 4th. this is "today in the east bay."

well, good morning, everyone. i'm scott mcgrew. it is 4:30. christina is in walnut creek with a forecast. good morning to you. >> good morning to you. yeah, we're coming to you live from the east bay this morning, walnut creek, broadway plaza. we're going to be out here all morning. laura garcia-cannon will be joining me momentarily but this morning it is pretty nice out here. the big story in the weather department is the excessive heat for this time of year we're expecting today. 90s in the east bay, in walnut creek that's what i'm forecasting. i'll let you know what's to come and a little cooldown towards mother's day weekend. but, mike, i ran through some major construction on 680 northbound this morning. >> that's probably coming through san ramon right there. we have construction on either side. it's quite a distraction with those very bright lights hitting

you just north of the dublin interchange. north of there there's a closure eastbound between love ridge and summersville that's still closed until 5:30 a.m. yesterday it didn't cause much of a problem and we don't expect it to be a big problem today. construction on interstate 80 north of hercules will affect you going to or from the carquinez bridge. california's fiscal crisis has come to this. kids may not be able to go to school for the whole year. christie smith is live in oakland with more on how governor brown is planning to send kids home early for the summer to help balance the budget. good morning. >> reporter: yeah, good morning to you. well, i'm sure that students might like this but i bet their parents won't. in the past two years california has already reduced its school year, but what they're talking about now is really drastic.

basically shutting down a month early or losing 20 instructional days of public school. now, school's chief tom torlakson says it would put us behind global competitors like japan and china where the school year is 200 days or 220 days in some cases, but this is what governor brown and districts are warning could happen without the extension of higher taxes. now, in the last decade the norm was about 180 days of school, but many districts in california are way below that now. so far districts are saying they plan to rely on bigger class sizes and cutting things like bus service to save money, but they're saying it also depends on what governor brown proposes and there are still big challenges ahead in this, like approval from teachers unions and lawmakers. governor brown for his part, he's expected to outline the cuts as he revises his budget in the next two weeks.

from there it's up to local school districts to decide what to do. reporting live in oakland, christie smith, "today in the east bay." one place schools are finding money is through special parcel taxes. the results are in from yesterday's special election. adults in the new haven school district and pleasanton school district said no. no more money. the parcel tax failed there. the lafayette parcel tax passed but the john sweat failed. it passed for ravenswood city and san carlos school districts. the jefferson union failed. in santa clara county, all four ballot measures passed. los altos, cupertino, sunnyvale and los got owes-saratoga school districts will get more funding. a proposed state law that will forgive the oakland unified

school district of millions of dollars in fines is facing its first legislative hurdle today. it goes before the assembly committee on education this afternoon. if the bill passes, it would forgive oakland of over $22 million in audit fines it received while the school district was under state control between 2003 and 2009. well, new details are emerging this morning about the moments leading up to the death of osama bin laden. the white house now says the al qaeda leader was not armed when he was killed. while bin laden was mortally injured, one of his wives survived. she was shot in the leg as she ran at commandos. u.s. officials maintain bin laden refused to surrender. u.s. forces were met with a highly volatile firefight. they say the decision to kill bin laden was made instantaneously on the ground by members of the assault team. >> there was concern that bin laden would oppose the capture operation and indeed he did resist. >> al qaeda lost more than its

leader. five computers, ten hard drives, disks were all snatched up. we should learn more about a big meth bust. 17 people have been indicted in federal court in oakland on charges of stashing or selling meth in several cities, including richmond, san pablo and antioch. the u.s. attorney prosecuting that case will have a press conference later this morning. an east bay gang member in custody this morning after he reportedly fired shots at an officer's car and then fled the scene. 27-year-old dyrel wayne jones sendered last night. he ran a stop sign and crashed his vehicle into a wall near railroad at atlantic avenue in pittsburg around 5:30 yesterday evening. he ran into an apartment complex to hide from officers. you can see in this video what appears to be some bullet holes on the front windshield of the officer's car there.

the officer fortunately not hurt. nurses working for oakland's children's hospital say they will walk off their jobs. a planned five-day strike starting tomorrow. ironically it's over health care. the union is upset over plans to reduce coverage for nurses and their families. the two sides, management and union, are not talking this morning. it's been nearly four years since chauncey bailey and two other men were shot and killed in oakland and today the trial of the two men accused in those killings is finally nearing an end. prosecutors have rested their case. they say bey ordered the killing because bailey was investigating bey's family business. bey also accused of ordering the killings of two other men in oakland during the summer of 2007. the defense plans to call only a few witnesses to testify, so closing arguments should begin next week. well, you can help shape the future of an east bay mall.

the owner of broadway plaza will hold community meetings today and tomorrow meant to be idea sessions on how to guide the company on investment decisions for that mall. the meeting will be from 1:30 to 2:30 at the gateway clubhouse. another meeting from 7 to 8 at the walnut creek marriott. tomorrow's meeting is at the clubhouse at boundary oak in walnut creek, also from 7 to 8. speaking of walnut creek, let's talk to christina. that's where she is with a warm forecast. good morning. >> good morning to you. yeah, "today in the east bay" it's going to be toasty. we're looking towards temperatures right around 90 degrees here in walnut creek. we're live at broadway plaza this morning. it's relatively quiet right now but in the next couple of hours this place is going to be hopping. we have a lot of fun in store. temperaturewise today, we're looking pretty warm. high pressure has set up shop right on top of the bay area. breezy conditions, especially

throughout the east bay hills. this is what we're looking at throughout the day today. it's a crisp, clear start. but by this afternoon our temperatures are going to skyrocket with that warmdown sloping wind trend that set up that offshore flow. we'll see northeasterly dry winds warming us up into the 90s. 90 degrees in livermore. if you work in the city, pretty nice conditions downtown san francisco today, 82 degrees. shouldn't be all that bad. your seven-day shows you this is the only hot day we're working with this week. we'll drop off in temperatures significantly as we head into the weekend. we're talking about the 70s, more cloud cover, just in time for mother's day. should be perfect for those outdoor plans on mother's day. now, one thing i did notice coming up here from san jose to walnut creek, there's a lot of construction but also a lot of people out at this hour. >> the entire east bay, a lot of friends coming out of the

altamont pass and tracy and also antioch so that's the reason we follow that commute as one of the first to start. westbound 580 out of the altamont pass is moving smoothly. about 5:45 we'll see slowing and then later on. now, the construction at san ramon, that cleared just after 4:30 so all lanes have reopened both north and southbound 680 and the dublin interchange. 580 moving nicely at the speed limit as well as 880 heading towards the san mateo bridge. no problems for wind across the bridges. christina says a nice day ahead and a nice view of oakland past the coliseum. the northbound taillights past high street not a problem but a good number of cars. this is light for the nimitz freeway. >> so northbound taillights are going the wrong way.

it's a famous tear jerker of an ad, abandoned pets in need but are local animals getting your donations? and a local teenager faces the judges on "the voice." we'll tell you if she made it. you're looking at a live picture of the bay bridge. it's 4:41.

4:43 right now. an ugly fight this morning between two well-known animal shelters over heart-breaking ads asking for your money. the spca is accusing the larger national aspca based out of new york of misleading donors. cheryl hurd has the story rosto >> reporter: you have to read between the lines. >> hi. will you be an angel for a helpless animal? >> reporter: the commercials are gut-wre gut-wrenching and for the dunn family the pictures made them rush to their checkbook. in fact they have a dog they rescued four years ago. >> just by doing lemonade stands over the summers, we've probably donated two or three times by writing checks and sending them

to the new york office of the aspca. >> reporter: thinking that money would make its way to their local spca. but the spca claims the majority of donations sent to new york do not make it back to the bay area. >> when i told the kids, they were pretty upset about it too. >> reporter: the state humane association of california filed a complaint against the aspca with the attorney general's office alleging the aspca engages in unfair and deceptive business practices in california. >> the number of dogs coming into shelters increased. >> reporter: the east bay spca executive director says people don't realize the spcas are independent, nonprofit organizations. some people believe the aspca is an umbrella group for all humane society organizations. it is not. >> i'd say about 10 to 15 times a week we're getting e-mails or phone calls from people who have sent their check to aspca but are calling us to follow up.

where's their t-shirt or why haven't they received this or that, clearly misunderstanding that the check they sent in fact went to new york city. >> reporter: the aspca responded late tonight saying it believes the claim is without merit. it says it is a national organization giving a million dollars to california per year for the past four years. >> we just would like to support our local community before we support new york. >> reporter: if you want to donate to your local charity, you should contact them directly. in concord, cheryl hurd, "today in the bay." meanwhile the rich getting richer and rental car advice. it's courtney reagan live at cnbc headquarters. >> reporter: good morning to you. futures have turned negative and that's after a choppy session of trading yesterday. it was marked by a big sell-off in commodities. silver in fact fell 10%. big swings in the dollar against

other major currencies, like the euro and the yen also led to that volatility. oil dipped below $111 a barrel. asia fell overnight. japan is closed for a holiday and europe has ticked a bit higher. we'll get the first report on the job market ahead of friday's employment report. that's the private sector jobs out in about a half hour and we'll get information on the serves sector. the rich are getting richer in the u.s. and in emerging markets like china and india. the ranks of families with more than a million dollars will soar to 55 million. the u.s. will still be home to the most millionaires with an estimated 20 million with a total household wealth of about $87 trillion. don't forget to fill up that tank before you return your rental car. "usa today" says companies are charging more than $9 a gallon for drivers who don't prepay for gas or who returned the vehicle

without a full tank. at many airports, including new york's jfk and chicago's o'hare, prepaying is actually cheaper than the average price at the local gas stations, so check out those prices before you pull in and you might decide prepaying is the way to go. >> now everyone can buy futures, thank you much. christina loren is out in walnut creek. we've got a whole walnut creek newscast coming up, don't we. >> yeah. if you prepaid for spring clothes, you get to use them today. we're looking really, really warm. this morning it's a little chilly. i'm pretty comfortable out here in a cotton turtleneck, but later on today, you will want to take a layer off because temperatures will climb towards the 90s and we haven't hit the 90s in months. so get ready for the hot stuff only for one day. temperatures are only going to stay in that 90-degree range for your wednesday. by tomorrow temperatures drop significantly. this is what we're looking at via weather headlines.

a crisp, cool start. by 4:00 p.m. temperatures will hit 90s inland. walnut creek, yeah, 90 for you. other east bay cities will be very, very warm as well. the east bay will be one of the warmest spots across the bay. if you're someone who works outside, make sure you're drinking plenty of water today. and you're also going to take it easy out there. it hasn't been this hot for a while so make sure you're ready for it. temperatures come down to the mid-80s tomorrow and then we're down into the 70s for mother's day weekend. a little bit more cloud cover as we head through your sunday, but overall a really good-looking, dry forecast with no rain in sight for the next ten days. we're back out here live in walnut creek, broadway plaza. we'll have a lot of fun this morning but right now i'll send it back to somebody who's always having fun, scott mcgrew. >> the weather is going to be beautiful but different story in the south. thousands of people fleeing

mother nature's wrath in the form of flooding just one week after a string of deadly tornados pounded that region. >> reporter: massive flooding continues across six states n parts of western tennessee, water as far as the eye and helicopter can see. the state's governor has requested $10 million in federal emergency funding. >> we are prepared to respond as quickly as possible. >> reporter: the mississippi river has already breached its banks. this is memphis, where rising floodwaters are threatening neighborhoods. on the other side of the mighty mississippi, large parts of eastern arkansas are under water, including dozens of highways and roads. experts are trying to minimize damage. the army corps of engineers blew up this levee near cairo, illinois, sacrificing 130,000 acres of land and 100 homes to save the community. concerns continue to rise downstream.

city officials in vicksburg, mississippi, warning residents. >> this flood is going to be historic based upon the reduction of the national weather service. >> reporter: and casinos in tunica aren't gambling with mother nature's power. many operators expect to be shut down by flooding for at least three weeks. kurt gregory, nbc news. 4:51 right now. coming up -- ♪ imagine all the people >> a bay area teen auditions on "the voice." did she make it? we're looking over here no bonk on the road for 24, caldecott tunnel moves smoothly

i'll show you some spots in the east bay.

♪ imagine all the people >> now, mike tells me it's good when they hit the button. a san jose high school student wowing judges on "the voice." she is only 18, didn't miss a note on last night's show. the senior says her experience is proof that dreams can come true. >> keep trying because seriously we all get so many nos and you never know when that lucky yes is. >> now you can find her strumming a guitar on youtube.

her parents say she is devoted to music. we mentioned san rafael native lily elise. ♪ >> so now both local products moving on to the next round. we have a lot more to come up. marla has a look at the news ahead. good morning, scott. today is expected to be the hottest day in the bay area that we've had since november and with that comes the concern about an early start to our wildfire season. we'll have a live report on that. plus, of course, we continue our may around the bay tour with a stop in walnut creek this morning, best known probably for its shopping and dining. but this morning we'll show you a few sides of walnut creek you may not know about. these stories and more coming up. let's check with mike. >> we'll take you out to the maze and show folks a nice treat. speeds not a problem right now. in fact there's an 80 showing up

on 24 interchange coming over out of the orinda site heading towards the caldecott tunnel. you'll have to watch it around the construction area. the cone zone won't be there much longer but this is at the willow avenue off-ramp for the roadway construction but also the construction of the willow road off-ramp. a new off-ramp opens friday, so that's great news for folks local to the area. that's been going on many months and will be a welcome change, making things a little easier for local roadway access. antioch eastbound 80 opposite your main commute closed from love ridge to summersville for the next three weeks. not much of a disruption but your detour takes you to city streets and back on. a major break through in the fight against obesity. scientists found a way to turn body fat into a better fat that burns off calories and weight. researchers have been running tests on rats. they used a virus to transform

the rats' fat from the type that stores calories into the type that burns them. both types are found in the human body and they say finding a lead to better obesity treatments would be helpful. more than one-third of americans are considered obese. coming up, hundreds of dui suspects could walk free even if they were driving drunk. we'll explain why coming up.

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

"today in the bay" is on the road. 20 cities in 20 days. this morning we're live in walnut creek. when you think wall net creek, you may think fine dining, fine shopping, but we're going to show you a great other things that you may not know about this fantastic city. i'm laura garcia-cannon. we're so happy to have you here this morning. let's get started, though, because this is g