>> reporter: new this morning fireworks are still going off at this hour in contra costa county. there have been a series of grass fires. i'm christie smith. we'll have that story in a live report. >> and swept away by the current. a north bay father killed while enjoying the fourth of july with his family. >> in the water for over 16 hours. >> what happened next, these bay area survivors will be talking about for a lifetime. meet a man who made it out alive and what happened moments before their boat went belly up in baja. and a live look outside. beautiful bay bridge this

rn s fuse tuesday, july 5, this is "today in the bay." good morning to you. thanks for joining us for 4:30 on this tuesday morning. lots of you heading back to it work. good morning. >> good morning to you, laura. a lot of people are h ded back to work this morning, and it is a little bit muggier out there than we're accustomed to. usually we have a dry heat to look forrd f. especially in the south bay you e the moisture. that is t actual showers i coming down. that's just a very, vy moistureadeny, environment. we're going to see muggy conditions today and tomorrow. then things are going to cool off. i've got your full forecast. mike's got the day off. i'm doing double duty. we have an accident to tell you about. you are going to be headed out now, keep in mind a lot of people have been partying all night so take it very, very easy. also you're going to find many more police officers than you would on a normal morning so take it easy.

we have an accident to tell you about, the 17 southbound, in the clearing stages but watch out. police on the scene and a tow truck. we'll keep covering this for you all morning. live look at the bay bridge toll plaza, traffic is moving but you won alone out there. i noticed quite a few more cars than usual for this hour on my way to work. we'll keep covering, traffic and weather. right now back to laura. >> thank you very much. we're also following developing news this morning from the east bay where three separate wild fires have fire officials skeptical about how they started. christie smith is live in pittsburg. she joins us with the details. good morning. >> reporter: i have to say i've been standing here about 40 minutes. in that time i've seen illegal fireworks being shot up in the sky and this morning there is still a fire smoldering off the port chicago highway. at this point firefighters don't know what caused a series of fires in the area overnight but

there were at least three in east contra costa county, all grass fires about a mile apart. the first about 9:30 on soon avenue and bay point. the second at port chicago highway 30 minutes later. the third at 11:00, we don't still know how these started. this is again in bay point at port chicago highway. there are reports of these fires, some of them burning up to homes, and another burning right near train tracks, so much so that it slowed trains getting by. we're trying to get information on how much in terms of acreage was burned. but that's what we have from here. reporting live in bay point, christie smith, "today in the bay." >> thank you very much, christie. a convicted north bay sex offender is back in jail accused of forcing his way into a hotel room and raping a woman. 33-year-old williams is facing rape and assault charges as well as burglary and violating

parole. police say he attacked a woman at the villa inn on lincoln avenue in san rafael. the woman says she accidentally theft door open a krak. she says her attacker forced his way in around 4:30 and raped her. she told the clerk who called police. when officers arrived they found williams in the room. williams had previously pled guilty to assault and unlawful sex with a minor. >> a father of three presumed dead after drowning in the rushing river. 30-year-old juan leone could not stay above the water when he tried to help his girlfriend. that's when a current pulled them out further. a kayaker is credited with rescuing 24-year-old patricia but after a lengthy search for leon, investigators called in divers to begin a recovery. the couple not the only one to get caught in the current. rescuers helped other swimmers.

>> we've had four different kids, there's a ripple, get caught in it, almost drown. we had to pull them out of the water. the advice is if you can't swim don't get in the water. if you've got kids put some flotation device on them. >> juan leon is considered missing until his body is recovered. >> 4:35 now. eight boaters still missing off the coast of baja california among the 44 people many of them from the bay area, thrown into the waters off the sea of cortez early sunday morning. their 100-foot sport fishing boat tossed upside down in a storm. george kiriyama has the latest from the survivors and their families. >> reporter: continues for eight men missing at sea, charles gibson and others told their stories of fear and survival. gibson is the police chief of the contra costa community college district. >> extremely large winds and water contributed to the dangerous conditions, most

likely caused the ship to take on water and sink. >> reporter: the 27 american tourists, most of them from the bay area, were making their annual fourth of july fishing trip. 66-year-old lee ikegami was sleeping when the waves struck their boat, causing it to sink in the gulf of california. his wife tells the story. >> he and some others were on one side of the boat and the boat flipped over very fast. he said they were thrown into the sea. he said he was fortunate enough that when he was thrown in, he came up right by a raft. >> reporter: others spent 16 hours in the water before fishermen and military boats rescued them. many were sun burned and dehydrated. the coast guard confirms one man died. >> local fishermen, members of the mexican military, the mexican state secretary of tourism, and the american

consulate have been helpful and in helping us get through this. >> reporter: though his wife knows her husband is safe she's not sure if their friends are among the missing. until her husband comes home, she'll try to focus on the questions that can be answered. >> once we get to where the car is how do we get the car home. just every little -- little things are what i'm dwelling on because i don't know what else to dwell on. >> investigators are asking for the public's help as they piece together the trail of events that led to a man being shot and killed on a b.a.r.t. platform. police received reports sunday night the man was drunk carrying an open bottle of alcohol. officers fired shots. one of the officers involved had a taser but did not use it. police are now locking at surveillance video and questioning witnesses. they are asking any one who may know more about the shooting or

have video to give them a call. >> caltrain is getting ready to mount cameras on the trains. the move is intended to document the suicides that happen on the tracks. right now the only information about people who die on the tracks and what happened leading up to the deaths comes from the train's engineers. last year, there were 11 suicides. so far there have been nine this year. the 70 cameras will run nonstop. they will be paid for by a state security grant. an update to news yesterday morning, 26 people without a home after a three-alarm fire tore through their san francisco apartment building. the mission street fire sent one person to the hospital. it happened around 6:00 yesterday near bosworth in the glenn park neighborhood. the fire tore through the first and second floor and spread to others. six buildings were affected. four apartments are considered uninhabitable. the cause of that fire is still under investigation.

>> let's check the forecast for today. another warm one on tap. >> warmer than yesterday, unfortunately. but this is the last abnormally warm day for the time of year. as we head throughout the remainder of the week we're going to start to cool off as this trough of low pressure dips in. ed the high pressure is in control. one of the differences you'll notice in the south bay, you can feel the air this morning. it's kind of heavy. we have monsoonal moisture creeping up from the south. and that's going to drive in cloud cover later on but the biggest difference between yesterday and today it's not only warmer, it's going to be muggier so it will feel warmer in the heat of the day. we have a heat index to talk about. making it feel 5 to 10 degrees warmer in the south bay. i don't think that moisture is going to creep up further to the north than the golden gate bridge but we're going to watch that. we have a chance of thunderstorms as well. kind of makes an unstable environment when we have the moisture pushing up and very warm temperatures. 57 in san mateo.

61 in livermore headed toward 99 degrees. 99 in fairfield and 89 the forecasted high in fremont. you can see along the peninsula this is the place to be if you are looking for cooler weather. 79 in san francisco, 92 in redwood city. not that bad in santa cruz. we'll see enough fog to see the temperatures down in this area. and some of that fog will push over the mountains, and morgan hill, you'll get a bit of a break. we've got your seven-day outlook coming up. right now a look at the roads. if you are heading out we have an accident, 880 northbound eight winton avenue in hayward, give yourself five extra minutes if you're headed that way. taking a look at the san mateo bridge, traffic moving nicely but you can see we do have people out there, you're not going to be alone and we'll watch this. no slowdowns yet but hey, remember, a lot of people are still celebrating the fourth of july so you want to take it easy. back to you. >> and you're never alone. you can wake up with us in the morning as well.

4:40 now. richmond is one step closer to issuing i.d. cards to people with no other from of identification. the council members will hold a final vote on an ordinance to issue city i.d.s the card will give people without other forms of i.d.s to use services like libraries and public pools regardless of immigration status. nearly a third of the residents are immigrants. garbage rates are about to rise for palo alto increasing by 13% to help fill a $3.7 million hole in the city's refuse fund. rates for typical trash bin increase to $37. palo alto is looking at the idea of reducing street sweeping service as well and building smaller recycling centers within limited hours of operating to help cost -- cut some costs. >> coming up the fourth has come

and gone. fireworks expected to continue on capitol hill this week. the debate over raising the debt ceiling is about to get under way. a couple of bay area universities make what some consider to be a breakthrough in autism research. san jose's joey chestnut maintains his title as the hot dog eating champ. some say, though, he didn't really win. we're going to have a look at the controversy coming up. that guy's stomach's got to hurt. a live look outside. a beautiful look at the bay i' 42.

4:42 now.

welcome back everyone. live look outside. this from the south bay this morning. i don't see the fireworks going off right now, though. seemed like a lot of folks were up late or early this morning shooting them off. still celebrating the fourth of july. 4:45. in the meantime it's back to the budget in washington this morning. congress returns from a shortened holiday break with less than a month before the government says we will default on our bills. today in the bay's tracie potts takes a look at what we can expect. ♪ by the dawn's early light >> reporter: the celebrations are over, today, back to work on the budget. >> you don't have to raise the debt s.e.a.l.ing to pay your

debts. you got to get your spending under control. >> reporter: republicans refuse to authorize more borrowing without more spending cuts. but some say they will consider closing loopholes revenue razors, and even cuts in military spending to prevent default on august 2nd. >> i'm going to make sure that you have the support that you need in the field. >> reporter: democrats say spending cuts are not enough. >> we cannot achieve the kind of deficit reduction everyone agrees we need without increasing revenues. >> reporter: a stalemate, no compromise and a looming deadline when the u.s. may not be able to pay its bills. who will give in? >> i think republicans have more to lose by caving so eventually i think the president will move closer to the republican position. >> reporter: negotiations resume today. republicans have signaled they may support a short-term deal. tracie potts, nbc news, washington. >> pfizer's quit smoking drug isn't all it's cracked up to be.

for more on that and news before the bell let's turn to nicole lapin at world headquarters. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, laura. we'll get to that in a second. futures are flat to slightly higher. the markets come off their best week in nearly two years, rising sharply on friday following better than expected numbers often manufacturing. for now it's calming concerns about the slow recovery. asian markets took a breather, europe is mixed. we get data on factory orders and there are key numbers on the jobs market later, the june payroll report on friday. the market action on friday t dow rising 168 points to 12,582, where we closed t nasdaq to 2816. a new study is raising concerns about pfizer's quit smoking drug. researchers say the drug increases heart risks, pfizer refuting the claims but investors had high hopes for the

drug when it debuted. reports of mental health problems in users led to the fda to order a stronger warning label on the drug. hackers claim they broke through apple's corporate security this weekend. they published names of apple administrators and enkrimted pass words on line but the data is not linked to the 200 million customer credit cards that apple stores on itunes. the group anonymous is claiming credit for the breach. back to you. >> thank you very much. good to see you. a couple of bay area universities teaming up to come up with what could abbreakthrough on the study of autism. researchers at uc san francisco and stanford studied a large group of twins and found a mother's age and health may play a large role in whether a child has autism. before now it was thought that genetics played a major role.

however, the study found a higher rate in fraternal twins meaning ones that don't share the same genes. experts say stress, diet, infections and a mother's age and medications could increase the risk of autism in a child. >> 4:49. i want to check the forecast with christina loren. how are we looking? >> we're looking hot once again. today's the last day we're going to see the triple digits in the forecast. that's only for the warmest cities, if you wake up with us in the city of san francisco, we've got a gorgeous day on tap for you. high pressure in control. these clouds up and around that ridge. we've got another one over the four corners region. you can see the clockwise rotation. this is the man soonle moisture. about three to four time as year on average it creeps up far enough to the north to impact the bay area. bakersfield sees a lot more of this. for us it's uncommon to see the flow come this far to the north

in our area. that's what we're going to experience today and tomorrow. that means we could see a few of those pop-up thunderstorms, the best chance in the south bay tomorrow afternoon and thursday afternoon. after that a trough of low pressure moves in and really starts to cool us down toward the weekend. in fact, low 80s in the warmest spots as we head through friday and saturday. this is what we're looking at. 56 degrees in oakland, good morning to you. 57 in santa rosa. 57 in san mateo. a beautiful, beautiful day in the city yesterday. you got another one of those to look forward to. 79 degrees. warmer, 92 in redwood city and 94 in los gatos. this is what we're looking at when it comes to the next few days. temperatures start to drop as we head through tomorrow. 98 today down to 94 tomorrow, slightly cooler thursday, then the 80s return friday, cooler for your saturday. 82 degrees. sunday a mix of sun and clouds. we hold on, temperatures leveling off to the low 80s right about where we should be for this time of year.

83 degrees on monday. coming up i'm going to tell you about a sigalert we're following coming up in traffic. >> we're talking eating this morning. maybe a lot of eating. san jose's joey chestnut can again call himself the hot dog king. he blew away the competition at the hot dog eating contest in coney island. he ate 62 hot dogs, buns and all in 10 minutes. six short of his own record. enough to get him a fifth straight title. his closest competition, pat, ate 53. while the win is remarkable there are some that say that he is not the true champ. a few miles away on a manhattan rooftop, another was chomping down. he competed at the same time and polished off 69 hot dogs, enough to break the world record. major league eating president,

who knew there was one, george shea, told aol news the record is a farce saying quote the champion of the world is crowned in coney island, always has been, always will be. kobayashi put a tin crown on himself and called himself king. those are fighting words. kobayashi has been banned from the contest because he would not sign a contract with major league eating. the the contest governing body. go figure. big figure, i'd say. 4:52 now. nasa's latest project that's giving them a look at creation. for all of your news and weather and traffic check us out on facebook, search nbc bay area morning news.

>> thousands of people stayed out late just to see the fireworks. number of shows around the bay area and the weather certainly helped out. in san francisco, the fog stayed away, giving people a perfect view of the show. always great to try to sleep through that too. let's take a look at the morning commute this morning. christina's pulling double duty. >> indeed. were they going off in your neighborhood? >> oh, yeah. >> really ridiculous. i thought it's going to wake me

up. good morning to you. you want to keep in mind before you hit the highway at this time a lot of people have been celebrating all night so you want to take it easy, try to eliminate distractions in the vehicle and that way we have no unnecessary accidents. we're following a serious one, this is on the peninsula, it's on u.s. 101, southbound approaching ralston avenue, blocking three lanes. and this actually just came down the pike so it looks like as we head through the next 15 to 20 minutes it will still be a factor. keep that in mind. we'll continue to update you. traffic is light across the board, speaking of which a live look at 880 in oakland. traffic looking good. we'll let you know as soon as it starts to slow down. >> thank you. 4:56. the countdown for the last shuttle flight hasn't started but nasa already moving on as it looks at the universe's past. the agency is testing out its latest technology, the sophia. it's a telescope fitted on a modified 747. flying more than 41,000 feet

above the ground it is giving scientists crystal clear pictures of stars and black holes. researchers say sophia gives them a look at creation. >> where stars are forming and we're seeing it for the first time details of how it's all happening, how it's coming together. >> he looks like a scientist. sophia is a joint project between nasa and the german space agency. german built the telescope and nasa provides the plane. coming up the family of bryan stow tells us how he's doing this morning. and the city of santa clara moving one step closer to a 49ers stai stadium. a live update is next. for all of your news, weather, traffic and a lot of fun check search nbc bay area morning news. we'll be right back.