tragedy at sugar bowl, a little boy dies after falling off a ski lift. the latest on the investigation just ahead. also a carjacking suspect still on the run in the south bay even though he was spotted by police. a live look at downtown san jose this morning. it is wednesday, december 21st. this is "today in the bay." good morning to you. it's 4:30. i'm marla tellez in for jon kelley. >> i'm laura garcia-cannon.

a lot to get to this morning. let's check the forecast with meteorologist christina loren. >> good morning to you. boy, oh, boy. we're getting oh so close to christmas. a lot of sunshine throughout the remainder of the week and into the holiday weekend. another cold one out there. grab that jacket. we'll see a nice afternoon. 4:31, we'll check your drive on a wednesday with mike inouye. >> good morning, christina. oakland, 880 our view past the coliseum. at the bottom of the screen, you see the flashing error, moving folks over one lane. north of high street -- actually the northbound side is an issue because only one lane is open after you pass high street and getting up to fruitvale. construction continues for the morning at least for the next few minutes. we'll have slower traffic and then a traffic break. we'll track it as construction starts to clear in the next few minutes. it's 4:31. one of the bay area's most well known athletes is in the headlines.

warriors team captain monta ellis is being accused of sexually harassing a former golden state warrior employee. his accuser claims ellis repeatedly texted her unwanted messages. attorneys say the texting got way too graph. >> the next day or the day after he sent a pretty graphic picture that it disgusts me to even explain or show. >> her attorney says warrior management knew about the texting harassment and tried to cover it up by firing the woman in august. the lawsuit is planned to be filed late they are morning. the warriors have no comment on that matter. san jose police are looking for a carjacking suspect this morning. they say he is armed and dangerous. yesterday morning cops spotted 31-year-old jarek brown wanted in connection with a december 7th carjacking in milpitas. when they tried to stop brown he

took off in a silver bmw and crashed near capitol expressway. after the crash he left the car and ran into the home of this 80-year-old man's home and took the keys to his car and drove off in the toyota camry. tomorrow could mark the final chapter in a sensational murder case. the murder for hire of a popular bar owner. a judge could decide to sentence paul garcia to life in prison for the murder of his former business partner. garcia's lawyer is hopeful the judge will grant his motion for a new trial instead. garcia is accused of hiring a hit man to kill the businessman allegedly because garcia was in love with a bartender who the man was dating at the time. a 7-year-old boy has died from his injuries after falling from a ski lift in the sierras. this accident happened at hug gar bowl resort sunday on the

mt. lincoln express chair lift. the boy was riding with two other boys when he fell 6 feet. he landed on a mixture of snow and bare ground and injured his head. he was taken to a hospital where he had surgery to relieve pressure in his skull. he died yesterday from his injuries. >> so sad. 4:34 right now. the city of oakland will announce the hiring of an independent investigator to evaluate the police response to occupy protests. the mayor and city administrator was an outside party to evaluate the use of police force during the demonstrations. the council will also consider a resolution to allow city lead toers do everything legally possible to keep the port of oakland operational during protests. the hearing will start at 10:00 this morning at city hall. >> if you drink and drive this holiday weekend santa clara county, officers will be looking for you. santa clara county sheriffs and california highway patrol are setting up dui checkpoints as

part of a nationwide "drive sober or get pulled over" crackdown. the checkpoints and extra patrols will be up and running through new years. the slow economic recovery is not keeping people off the roads this holiday season. they're getting a small reprieve in the form of lower gas prices. "today in the bay's" monte ellis is leave in fremont with more. good morning, monte. >> reporter: good morning. aaa says more than 11 million californians will travel more than 50 miles from home this holiday season. the good news is there's been a slight drop in the price of gas. in fremont it's 3:53 a gallon. we have a graphic showing other prices from across if bay area. the average price went down five cents in fast two weeks n. san francisco gas is averaging $3.57, among the highest in the nation. oakland is $3.5 and san jose is $3.45. all those prices are higher than last year.

the number of californians on the road is up from last year by about 4%. aaa says people are traveling, although doing it on a budget. again, the most popular mode of transportation this holiday season is the car accounting for 90% of all the holiday trips in the state. also, you can expect heavy traffic statewide in the coming days. more than 10 million people are expected to be on the roads in california from friday through january 2nd. by the way, the airports should be less crowded. nationwide holiday air travel is down by about 9% from last year. laura and marla, back to you. >> okay, monte francis. i apologize for misspeaking when i introduced you. thank you. 4:36 right now. we're getting a clearer picture as to how power was lost during a 49ers game. pg&e says a spliced power line caused several outages during

monday night's football game. a 12,000-volt cable failed just before cakeoff. power was eventually restored. a second outage later in the game is still being investigated. san francisco mayor ed lee calls it a national embarrassment and a apologizing to fans, 49ers and the nfl. 4:37. the two government-run home lenders at the center of the mortgage crisis are being sued by california. attorney teen carmela harris filed papers in court yesterday demanding fannie mae and freddie mac respond to a state investigation. harris wants both to answer questions about their lending and foreclosure practices. she also wants to know if they have information on the decreased values of the homes because of drug dealing or prostitution. the lenders are also being asked if they complied with civil rights laws protecting minorities and military families. this morning we're getting a first look at the first known major contributor to the governor's new tax plan.

the california tribal business alliance and two of its member tribes have given $275,000 to support the governor's ballot initiative. the plan would rate the state sales tax by half a percent an increase income taxes for those making more than $250,000 a year. brown says the plan would raise an estimated $7 billion in one fiscal year. water officials are raising red flags over a threat which could choke the east bay delta region. the south american sprong plant has been spotted again in small areas of the delta. if not dealt with, it can spread quickly and clog water delivery plans and marinas. plant experts say they canner rad cat the plant but their hands are tied. state only provide funds for certain types of water weeds. the sponge plants were first seen in 2003 and have appeared spore radically ever since.

this morning environmentalists are sending notices to power plants to be safe or pay up. an environmentalist group filed a formal notice of a lawsuit threat against the owners of four power plants in east contra costa county. the group says the lawsuit threat is an effort to help protect a rare plant as well as a butterfly and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. they say if their demands are not met, they will continue with the lawsuit. 4:39. good morning to you, another cold start this time to your wednesday. yesterday a cold start. here we go again, christina. >> unfortunately getting hit with the double fs this morning, fog and frost. we had our own monte francis talking about travel. by vehicle you've got problems if you're getting into the sacramento valley. a dense fog advisory all the way down. take it easy this morning in south earn california. also expecting flight delays out

of san francisco. later today new york city, philadelphia and seattle. you need to make sure you check ahead with your carrier. we have cool tools on our website to help you track your flight. 32 degrees in concord and 34 degrees in livermore. as you know, if you've been with us over the past couple days, the coldest point of the day is sun viz. we'll continue to drop off over the course of the next couple hours. temperatures today as we head through the afternoon with a lot of sunshine will be just about as warm as yesterday. so another nice day. we have the dense fog to worry about in places like novato and santa rosa and fairfield dropping off. the next couple hours expecting more of the fog to drift through the delta, especially through the east bay valleys. we have an air quality alert to tell you about, illegal to burn, unhealthy air quality. that stagnant air mass is going to make for some unhealthy pollution levels. if you suffer from respiratory issues or asthma, try to stay indoors today. dry conditions this afternoon

through thursday. changes on the way for your holiday weekend. we'll take you through those. first we want to check your drive with mike inouye. >> good morning folks. we'll take you to the north bay for a couple issues. looking first at eastbound 80 into vacaville. we have an issue at lagoon valley road. an earlier accident that is still there over in the shoulder. there was debris across all lanes. that was just reported clear as well. opposite your main commute into the bay area. a note for folks who may be headth out of town. looking over here to the north bay. at the edge of my sensors, southbound 101 at 12, an accident just over on the shoulder. stay to your left because that might also be sticking out into the slow lane as you head through this area for our friends out of the santa rosa area. highway 37, no problems getting on to 101. north of there there's construction from highway 37 to atherton avenue in the north bay. a look at the golden gate bridge, look at this, easy

drive, clear view, good stuff getting into the city from the north bay. we'll check other areas next after i send it back to you guys. >> go get a cup of coffee. get one for me, too. are rising dairy costs singi singing. he delivered the package on time, just not all in one piece. the shocking video you've got to see just ahead.

welcome back. a live look at a pretty empty bay bridge toll plaza. 4:44. the restaurant known for its last honest pizza is ready to re-fire the ovens. roundtable pizza yesterday got approval from a bankruptcy court to reorganize. it's planning to open new restaurants across the country and overseas. they filed for bankruptcy in february of posting more than $30 million in debt. 4:45. wall street made a huge rally yesterday. this morning the question is will it continue today? for more on that and the news before the bell, we turn to jackie deangelis live at cnbc world headquarters. good morning. >> good morning to you. watching the futures this morning. they were much higher. now they're mixed as the markets try to add to yesterday's bill rally. stocks soared yesterday as investor sentiment got a boost from housing data housing starts. we saw them rise 9.3% last

month. that was the best pace in a year and a half. there was also good news out of europe with improving business sentiment in germany and a decent bond auction in spain. today tech stocks could get hit by oracle. we're going to get some data this morning on existing home sales and some revisions for the past five years which could show that realtors overcounted sales suggesting that the housing crash was worse than previously thought. we saw the dow jump 337 points yesterday to close at 12,103, if nasdaq gaining 80 to close at 2,603. meantime unemployment fell in 43 states last month, the most to report declines in eight years. the labor department says three states report higher unemployment. nevada the highest at 13% followed by california at 11.3%, down from 11.7% in october. employers added jobs in 29 states and in washington, d.c. meantime, microsoft may be

looking to add a blackberry to its product lineup. the "wall street journal" says microsoft and nokia flirted with the idea of making a takeover bid for research in motion. it's unclear how far those talks got, but they also turned down an approach. that's it for us at cnbc. back over to you. security video of a fedex delivery man tossing a brand new computer monitor is now a smash hit on youtube. check this out. the footage shows what happens when a delivery man found a gate blocking the house, it was still closed, instead of using the keypad, he tosses the package over the gate. peering over his shoulder, the man marched back to his truck and on to the next delivery. the person who posted this video says he or she was home at the time with the front door wide open. the clip has gotten more than

200,000 views. this morning he's going oops. >> oh, my gosh, no kidding. here's your package. here is your cold weather as well. >> the weather looked great in that video, too. you can't blame it on nasty weather. >> is that what you see in those pictures. always looking at the forecast. >> always looking for the sunshine which we'll get plenty of today. i was doing a little climb tolli climatology out there. we had this wet pattern going. if you had friends and family in town last year, they'll get a retreat if they're coming back this year. lots of sunshine. temps in the 60s. this morning we have fog, gu nothing we're not accustomed to. down to about a quarter mile in spots. take it easy up there. fairfield also dropping off. your temperatures bone-chilling cold. 28 in fairfield. freezing in concord, 31 in santa rosa. as we head throughout the afternoon, the sun will come out right around 7:20.

as the sun comes out, it will warm us up. taking the storm track way to the north. as we head throughout the day, that's going to make for mild conditions, a lot of sunshine. it is a spare-the-air day. you'll probably see filtered sunshine in your city with the haze in the atmosphere. 62 in morgan hill today, comfortable conditions, plenty of 60s through the east bay. 57 in alameda and 58 degrees today in richmond. as we head throughout the next couple days, we don't have any major changes to tell you about. there is an sxweresting area of low pressure we're watching for that could bring us rain showers as we head into next week. get right to the seven day forecast and show you what we're expecting from that. late tuesday into wednesday we could see showers next week. that's what we're watching for. overall looking nice and dry all the way through christmas. of course, the solstice tonight at 9:30. tomorrow the first official day of winter. back to you ladies. a special delivery from santa and a big surprise for one

bay area family. >> a soldier home for the holidays made an unexpected appearance on stage at his daughter's school recital. nbc bay area's richard sharp has more on the family reunion. >> reporter: trying to avoid being seen by his wife and daughter, staff sergeant brett randall sneaks into the civic theater to surprise his family. >> it actually means so much to me because i've missed many holidays away from my family. >> reporter: hiding out he watches his 4-year-old daughter stephanie performing in a holiday dance recital. then after her performance he goes on stage. >> daddy! daddy. seconds later, randall's wife jennifer buries herself in his arms. >> hi, baby. [ sobbing ]

>> i love you, daddy. >> reporter: the crowd gave this surprise reunion a standing ovation. >> thank you, guys, sorry for interrupting. >> reporter: randall has been away for more than six months. a specialized emt stationed in afghanistan. >> it's definitely great to have him home for christmas. >> you're welcome. >> reporter: you can see the look on her face and just lit me up inside. it felt like magic. >> reporter: a holiday surprise this military family will never forget. >> ooh! ooh! >> reporter: i'm richard sharp, nbc bay area news. >> that's classic and a wonderful reunion. sharing power, a surprising twist in leadership in north korea. that story coming up. roadmap toco recovery. jach pan shows how it will deal

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my mommy! that's right... your mommy donated her immune cells to help destroy your leukemia. st. jude children's research hospital pioneered this breakthrough that's helping save kids like hayli across america. thanks for letting me play with her. thanks for my daughter's life. thanks for giving to st. jude. give thanks for the healthy kids in your life. and give to those who are not. go to st. jude.org or shop wherever you see our magnifying glass. welcome back at 4:54 now. north korea is shifting away from a single ruler and will be governed by a collective group for now. reports say kim jong-un, his uncle and the military will take charge of the isolated country. analysts predicted this saying the older establishment is not ready to give full support to the much younger kim jong-un.

they say the group has the same goal of keeping it alive. japan will release the report to demission the xlant. the government says it may take as many as 40 years to do so. under the plan, the plant operator will start removing spent fuel rods within two years. after that they'll start removing the melted fuel that process is expected to be complete 25 years from now. fully decommissioning the plant would require another five to ten more years after the fuel debris is removed. this morning lawyers for the man who allegedly orchestrated the biggest national security leak in u.s. history will get to present evidence in his defense. so far defense lawyers have revealed little about their strategy for bradley manning in the wikileaks case. they've gotten witnesses to say the former army intelligence analyst was a troubled young man who should not have had access to classified materiality.

the government wants manning court-martialed for aiding the enemy and 21 other charges. want to check the morning commute right now. it's 4:55. see how things are rolling with mike. >> things are pretty light right now and probably the next couple weeks because of vacations. overnight maintenance, the remember center tube as you go under the water between oakland and alameda. should be reopening that tube in a few minutes. if you want to be clear of it, use the park street bridge a little bit to the south. also marked on the maps, squeezed behind there, more construction at fruitvale and heading southbound to the coliseum around high street. the northbound side has a lane blocked as well. the live shot shows we do have the left lane blocked with the arrow flashing on the right side of the screen. the southbound direction we had an earlier traffic break about seven minutes ago. that was causing quite a bit of clear roadways. now traffic is slowing once again. it looks like crews cleared from

downtown to high street. back to you. much more ahead on today in the bay including an update including the sexual harassment lawsuit against a golden state warrior. hitting the road for the holidays? so are millions of other people. we'll tell you what you can expect if you're heading out of town for all your news, weathered and traffic updates, check us out on facebook. search nbc bay area news. a live look at a very vacant golden gate bridge toll planza n this wednesday. "today in the bay" continues in just two minutes.

i'm monte francis live in fremont. i'll tell you why the slow economic recovery is not keeping people off the roads this holiday season coming up. tragedy at sugar bowl. a little boy dies after falling off a ski lift. the latest on that investigation just ahead. taking a live look