it's being filed here in oakland today. i'm christie smith. i'll have that story coming up in a live report. a controversial plan to put all cellular antennas around palo alto is moving forward. >> reporter: i'm monfils francis live in fremont. i'll tell you why the slow economic recovery is not keeping people off the roads this holiday season. a live look at the golden gate bridge toll particular saz this december 21st. four days until christmas. this is "today in the bay." four days till christmas. we're ringing it in right here onset with fancy sweater man, mike, our floor director. >> we need a tight shot of that. >> lighten it up this morning. 6:00, thanks for joining us, i'm laura garcia-cannon. >> i'm marla tellez in for jon

kelley. meteorologist christina loren joins us. >> good morning to you. it's cold out there. that cold air will hit you in the face when you walk out in the front door. that will wake you up in gilroy this morning. 28 degrees there. i love to be the bearer of good news, especially this time of the season. we'll hit about 50 degrees by noon and a gorgeous, gorgeous second half of the day shaping up. about 57 degrees inland as you make your way home. i'm table you through your forecast and tell you when we might get some rain. first, we'll check your drive with mike. throughout the bay area, a relatively light volume of traffic. looking at a new accident involving a big rig, a big concern. the update comes in. this is northbound 680 at el sarah road. no injuries and the truck is on the shoulder. it looks like no lanes are blocked. we have other spots slowing down as the commute builds. i'll show you those coming up. >> 6:01. one of the bay area's most well known athletes is in the headlines this morning facing

serious accusations. to day in the bay's christie smith joins us from oakland with details of the sexual harassment allegations and the lawsuit expected to be filed against warriors team captain monta ellis. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. that lawsuit is expected to be filed in just a couple hours in alameda county superior court in oakland. then right after that the plaintiff's attorney is going to be speaking a little more about it, showing off what he says is supporting evidence of sexual harassment, 14 different allegations. this is against warriors star player monta ellis. it claims that ellis repeatedly texted a co-worker and sexually harassed her for a year starting in november of 2010. attorney burton boltuch says testing got graphic including pictures. he says this woman did not want a relationship with ellis. the suit also claims that ellis accused the plaintiff of not doing her job december of last year and that the warriors'

management knew about this texting harassment. and he feels they tried to cover it up. >> it comes down to mr. ellis starting in november of 2010 began series of incessant, unwanted text messages to my client. >> reporter: the woman was apparently let go in august. the warriors did play last night in sacramento. but monta ellis did not make himself available for comment. and the warriors haven't commented yet either saying they haven't seen the lawsuit. >> we apologize we lost christie there. we'll have more coming up. 6:03 now. san francisco and pg&e are still trying to figure out what caused the blackout at candlestick during monday night football. so far investigators know a 20,000-volt power line near the stadium snapped around 5:20 monday evening, but they don't know why. a backup system restored power

about 20 minutes later. a second outage happened another hour later. the cause of that outage is still not known. 6:03. san jose police are looking for a carjacking suspect this morning. they say he's armed and dangerous. tuesday morning milpitas police spotted 31-year-old jarek brown wanted in connection with a december carjacking that happened in that city just a few weeks ago. when they tried to stop the suspect, he took off in a silver bmw, crashing near capitol expressway. he then took off on foot and ran into the home of an 80-year-old man. he took the keys to the man's toyota camry reportedly and drove off, hitting a parked police motorcycle as he fled. so far police have not released the stolen car license plate. tomorrow could mark the final chapter in one of the south bay's most sensational murder cases. the murder for hire of a popular south bay bar owner. a judge could decide to sentence paul garcia to life in prison

tomorrow for the murder of his former business colleague mark achilli in 2008. garcia is accused of hiring a hit man to kill the los gatos businessman allegedly because garcia was in love with a woman achilli was dating. a plan to put cell phone antennas on palo alto utility poles is moving forward. the "san jose mercury" news reports the city approved the project on friday. at&t wants to put antennas on top of 20 palo alto poles. about 150 people signed petitions to put the project on hold. some residents are afraid the antennas will become an eyesore. opponents have until december 30th to file an appeal to the city. oakland will announce this morning the hiring of an independent investigator to look at how police handled occupy protests. the mayor and citia administrator without an outside party to investigate the use of police force during the

demonstrations. the hearing will happen at 10:00 this morning at city hall. this morning's announcement follows a lengthy and at times heated meeting. this happened last night. the oakland city council is considering a resolution to allow any steps legally possible to keep the port of oakland operational during protests. >> excuse me. excuse me! for people who advocate the right to free speech, you're certainly not giving this man the right of free speech! >> the port was partially shut down on december 12th while police stood by and watched. it lost between $4 million and $8 million that day. truck drivers and other business owners near the port were upset the city didn't do more to safeguard normal port operations. lower gas prices could be fueling more bay area drivers to hit the road during the holidays. monte francis is live in fremont

with an update for us. >> reporter: good morning. aaa says more than 11 million californians are expected to hit the road this holiday season. there's good news for those folks. there's been a slight drop in the price of gas. the price in flee month is $3.53 a gallon. the average price went down about five currents in the past two weeks. in san francisco it's averaging $3.57, oakland is $3.53. aaa says people are traveling, however doing it on a budget and maybe not traveling as far this year. most people are traveling by car despite higher gas prices from one year ago. automobile travel accounts for 90% of all holiday trips in the state. >> one of the biggest problems we have right now, it's like a tax on everybody. when you're taking more money out of everybody's pocket, that affects anybody that drives. that's pretty much everybody.

>> aaa says you can expect heavy traffic statewide in the coming days. more than 10 million people are expected to be on the roads friday through january 2nd. the airports should be less crowded. we understand air travel is down by about 9% compared to last year. laura and marla, back to you. >> thank you very much, monte. 6:08. holiday shoppers who take b.a.r.t. can feel safer. police are offering to escort riders who use the bayfair station today. a local bike shop will give tips on how to properly secure your bike. the escort begins at 5:00 this evening and lasts until 8:00. b.a.r.t. says the service is part of their effort to fight holiday crime. it's 6:08, a look at the forecast with meteorologist christina loren. another cold start. >> it is another cold start. take a look at what we could be dealing with as we get closer and closer to your holiday

weekend. expect major flight delays up and down the eastern seaboard. nasty weather in the panhandle of florida through the new england state and reports of delays out of laguardia, boston and philadelphia. you want to make sure and check ahead before you fly out today. of course, we're also talking about delays out of charlotte this morning. we'll continue to check on those. as you can see right here from our bay area forecast, satellite shows you we're looking good today. a few more clouds coming to the mix. that will keep us more mild overnight. it won't be as bone-chilling cold. not quite as cold this morning as it was yesterday morning. but just about. 31 in concord, 30 in santa rosa and novato. 45 in san francisco, just about all of your inland cities in the upper 20s and 30s right now. we'll see a nice second half of the day. it's going to take a while for the fog to burn off in novato and fairfield we have a quarter mile visibility. but basically south of the golden gate bridge fog is not too much of a factor just yet.

we'll continue to watch that for you. hitting the 60s today, 62 in san jose and los gatos. 57 degrees in san rafael. hazy sunshine. it's an unhealthy air quality day up in the north bay. also we have moderate air quality, but spare-the-air and that should be the case for throw as well. let's talk to mike about your drive at 6:10. how are we looking out there sf. >> we have a few slow spots. over all the volume of traffic this week and next week as we approach the holidays and kids getting off school, parents take off as well. highway 4 we have the slowing off the antioch bridge from the north bay. you slow down dramatically after hillcrest. speeds into the 10s and lightening up through summersville. no drama through pittsburg or bay point. northbound 680 into the north bay, slowing over the last sfu minutes. we'll track that because there are no incidents there. there is fog further north in fairfield to warn you about. a good note about the north day

there. this part of the north bay, 101, no problem. highway 12 coming out of some of the foggy areas with a quarter mile visibility on the maps. a smooth drive as far as the speeds go down into the city. a live look out there shows how things are getting in from oakland into san francisco. a light backup for the cash lanes in the toll plaza. no metering lights. 880 shaping up nicely. a smooth drive at the limit through the nimitz. back to you. 6:11. still to come, california's attorney general wants the answers about the mortgage crisis. the latest on her lawsuit against fannie mae and freddie mac is coming up. the standoff over your payroll tax is getting worse this morning. we'll tell you why. [ monica ] i'm away on a movie shoot

and it hasn't been going exactly as planned. cut. cut! [ monica ] i thought we'd be on location for 3 days -- it's been 3 weeks. so i had to pick up some more things. good thing i've got the citi simplicity card. i don't get hit with a fee if i'm late with a payment... which is good because on this job, no! bigger! [ monica ] i may not be home for a while.

[ male announcer ] the new citi simplicity card. no late fees. no penalty rate. no worries. welcome back at 6:136789

lawmakers are throwing up their hands and going home for the holidays. the house rejected the senate's deal to extend the payroll tax break for 60 days. republicans want democrats to return to washington to try again to negotiate a full year. democrats say no. no one is bundling, but there is one thing republicans and democrats can agree on. >> the arrogance of this place is outstanding. it's unbelievable. >> what is happening here today is shameful, it is a disgrace, it is unreal! >> president obama insists the two-month extension is now the only option. 6:14 right now. this morning lawyers for the man accused of leaking thousands of classified documents to wikileaks gets to present evidence in his defense. so far defense lawyers have revealed very 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 material. the government wants manning court-martialed for aiding the enemy and 21 other charges. new details this morning about north korea's plan to move forward after the death of kim jong-il. reuters reports the country will have a collective rule instead of a dictatorship. his son, kim jong-un will lead the country but share power with his uncle and the military. intelligence sources say it appears a coup by the military seems unlikely. china is asking the u.s. and other countries to help keep stability in north korea. it reached out to the u.s., japan and south korea. its foreign minister said keeping the peace on the korean peninsula is a common interest on all sides. christina loren has a look at the forecast today. no rain in sight for a while. >> no. we had rain last christmas. this christmas, quite the opposite. it's going to be sunny and mild.

temperature is reaching 64 degrees inland. this morning it is very, very cold out there. although you probably have those stockings hung by the chimney with care f you have a chimney, you can't light that fair this morning. unfortunately it's a spare-the-air day. you can always flip on that yul log. 32 in livermore, 31 in concord and 33 in fairfield right now. it's cold out there. as we head throughout the day, temperatures are climb once the sun comes off right off the bat. full-on sunshine from the south bay along the peninsula. right now we don't have flight delays reported out of sfo if you're trying to catch a flight for holiday travel. we could see some fog drift that way as we head through the next course hours. we're watching for that. you have less than a quarter mile visibility from fairfield, novato. north bay socked in with fog. south of the golden gate bridge not yet a problem. high pressure moves in once again today keeping our days nice and dry. and our conditions really are

mild. 60s yet again today, and tomorrow i'll take your temperatures down just a little bit. it's going to be just about as warm. really no significant changes all through your holiday weekend. 62 in san jose today. 60 in los gatos and 60 degrees in san francisco. as we head throughout the next couple days, we do have some changes on the way by tuesday of next week. we're watching for the chance of showers. confidence is not that high right now. we're looking for anything as we do need the rain. i think at least the north bay will see showers late tuesday into wednesday. overall, though, we continue on. this dry pattern persists. let's check your drive with mike at 6:17. looking at the south bay and the speed sensors, a great story for northbound, our commute direction throughout the area. no delays. your commute over the santa cruz mountains. because of construction, that's also delayed. some folks heading to the summit right now, seeing one lane of traffic available. the southbound side also shows the similar restriction, but no

major slowing south out of los gatos to the summit. this construction likely to remain in place until around 7:00. that's late for this area of the south bay. looking over to another section where we have an updated location for this accident. northbound 680 at diablo road, south reported around el cerra. slowing may be blocked by a big rig. accident and activity there as you head through danville and toward the walnut cream interchange. no slowing throughout that area. we'll also look at the update for the venetia bridge. earlier sensors north on 680 across the bridge. now things are smoothing back out to the speed limit. no incidents there or for your commute coming down across the carcinas bridge. a live shot to see how things are shaping up at the bay bridge toll plaza. easy drive right now. no backups, not even more than just a few cars for the cash lanes. it looks like as we get closer to christmas and new year's, we have the lighter volume of traffic. we watch for any unexpected issues. i can tell you about them and

you're expecting them. back to you. >> thank you very much, mike. 6:18 right now. we're getting a look at the first known major contributor to the governor's 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. california is suing the two government-run home lenders at the center of the mortgage crisis. attorney sdwren carmela harris filed papers 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 homes due to drug dealing or prostitution and whether they complied with civil rights laws.

the bay area's one-stop transit fair celebrating a major milestone. according to the metropolitan transportation association the clipper card, now used by more than a million bay area passengers, mtc says the card usage has grown 142% in the last year. the card is available to a few travel agencies thand will one y serve all 12 bay area transit plans. don't believe everything you read in a text. we'll tell you why. >> serious accusations againstad china and computers and an update to the kindle fire. we'll take a look. [ male announcer ] it's a rule of nature. you don't decide when vegetables reach the peak of perfection. the vegetables do.

at green giant, we pick vegetables only when they're perfect. then freeze them fast so they're are as nutritious as fresh. [ green giant ] ho ho ho. ♪ green giant fantastic! pro-gresso ] they fit! okay-y... okay??? i've been eating progresso and now my favorite old jeans...fit. okay is there a woman i can talk to? [ male announcer ] progresso. 40 soups 100 calories or less.

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. roundtable filed for bankruptcy back in february after posting more than $30 million in debt. more signs silicon valley could be leading the bay area out of a slumping economy. a real estate firm purchased a half billion dollars' worth of business parks in the east and south bays. reports say it's the biggest property purchase in the bay area this year. it could help fuel the trend that has made the south bay the

fastest job growth region in the country. maybe no surprise, people are more likely to say, they say, in a text message. that according to a study that will be published in the journal of business ethics. a study found people are more likely to be untrue in a text than they would in face-to-face communications or video conferencing or perhaps an audio chat. researchers say they found something surprising when subjects were told they were lied to in a text, they were more angry than when they found out they were lied to face to face. 6:24. the u.s. government made demands san francisco-based twitter shut down an account belonging the suspected terrorists. scott mcgrew says that would be unprecedented. >> it would be like playing whack a mole. it's easy to set up a twitter account.

the account belongs to the islamic group shabaab in somalia, written in english, taunting the u.s. and its rival the kenyan army. we have one of their messages as well -- well, maybe not. there we go. there's the twitter. announcing they had set off an ied against armored personnel carriers. "the new york times" saying the u.s. government is considering a legal action to shut the account down. the folks i talked to at twitter said they've heard nothing so far from the u.s. government. serious accusations against china that agents working for that country hacked into computers belonging the the u.s. chamber of commerce. the u.s. saying spies may have had access for more than a year. what's new is how straightforward washington and the press is being about it naming china specifically. on a lighter note, amazon sent a software update to the owners of the fire tablet making the tablet faster and easier to

use. it enables parents to lock access to the amazon store so you kids can't buy everything on the planet on the screen. also i think it also will change what you see on that screen so that people can't tell what books you're reading. back to you. >> thank you very much, scott. 6:26 right now. fierce rivalry between the stanford cardinals and tennessee volunteers. a lot of people hitting the road for the holidays. see what's helping them to do it. a warrior store on the golden state team is the subject of a sexual harassment team. baby, it's cold outside. i'll got the full forecast. find out what christmas holds and we've got rain on the way. i'll tell you when. we hope that doesn't stay. the big rig accident i'm talking i'e hav danlle. i'll have the upset on 680 and

the latest of the walnut creek interchange coming up.

we will have the very latest on sexual harassment allegations against a key warrior player. a slow economy does not translate to a slow holiday travel season. i'll have that story coming up. a live look outside from the east bay this morning. traffic certainly picking up on 880 in oakland. it's wednesday, december 21st. this is "today in the bay." good morning to you. thanks so much. father christmas there this morning. a little behind the scenes action there. i'm laura garcia-cannon.

6:29 right now. >> i'm marla tellez in for jon kelley. straight to meteorologist christina loren. >> it is cold. a cold start but appropriately the solstice tonight, ushering in winter. although it's frigid out there this morning, it won't be the case all day long. 50 degrees by noon inland, up to 57 at 5:00 p.m. i'll take you through your holiday forecast and we'll talk about which ski resorts although we haven't had much snow, are looking the best for skiing and snowboarding come this holiday weekend. first let's check your drive with mike inouye. two updates. i think that was the bernie, the dance. we'll look to the roadways where we have the clearing for northbound 680 at diablo road. the big rig removed. that's a great flow of traffic. a lighter volume for 680, 24, lafayette toward the bay bridge

with no metering lights yet. we have a holiday commute kicking in. we have issues for 580 and 84 kicking up. >> we'll check back be you, thank you very much, mike. police are still searching for a carjacking suspect they say is armed and dangerous. yesterday morning milpitas police spotted 31-year-old jarek brown wanted in connection with a december 7th carjacking. when they tried to stop him, he took off in a silver bmw crashing near capitol expressway in san jose. he then took off on foot running into the home of an 80-year-old man where he allegedly took the keys to the man's toyota camry. as he sped away, he supposedly hit a parked police motorcycle. so far police have not released the stolen car license plate. 6:31. one of the bay area's most well-known athletes is making headlines this morning, but for all the wrong reasons. golden state warriors team captain monta ellis and the team itself are facing a sexual harassment lawsuit.

today in the bay's christie smith is like in oakland with what we're hearing from the accuser's attorney. >> reporter: good morning, marla. this lawsuit is being brought by a former golden state warrior employee, a woman who may go public after this lawsuit is filed this morning. she claims that monta ellis harassed her starting in november of 2010. we did speak with her attorney who says that the client did not want to have a relationship with monta ellis and that he repeatedly texted this co-worker and sexually harassed her and says the texting actually got graphic with a photograph. that lawsuit will be filed today in alameda county superior court in oakland. the text he says came at night or early in the morning. >> what are you doing? what are you wearing?

she would say i'm going to sleep, i'm wearing pajamas. he texted her, "hey sexy." she was not acquiescing. >> reporter: now, the lawsuit also claims that ellis accused the plaintiff of not doing her work. that was last december and that the warriors knew about the harassment. he feels they actually tried to cover it up by firing her. the warriors did play last night. ellis did not make himself available for comment. the warriors have not commented yet either saying they haven't had a chance to see the lawsuit. reporting live in oakland, i'm christie smith. laura and marla, back to you. 6:33 right now. san francisco state and pg&e and the engineers that work for them are still looking for the source of blackouts at candlestick park. it happened during monday night's 49ers game. investigators do know that a 20,000 volt power line near the stadium snapped monday night. they don't know why. the backup system restored power about 20 minutes later.

a second outage happened about an hour after that. the cause of that outage is still unknown. 6 quoo 33 this morning. a grand jury indictment against the woman accused of murdering an east bay nursing student. the en dipt speeds up the trial process for the 27-year-old. the trial was delayed several times because she was pregnant. she delivered the baby last month. she's accused of killing nursing student michelle le and dumping her body near pleasant ton. they were once friends. esteban suggested the relationship soured because le may have been involved with her ex-boyfriend. a new report says more bay area drivers will be traveling by car this year. "today in the bay's" monte francis is live with a look at the report. >> reporter: good morning, aaa says more than 11 million

californians are hitting the road this holiday season. the good news for those folks is that gas prices are down slightly in the last couple weeks. here in fremont it's 3 woo 53 a gallon. we have a look at other prices from across the bay area. across the board, the average price went down about five cents in the past two weeks. in san francisco gas is averaging $3.57, in oakland $3.53 and in san jose $3.45. the number of californians this holiday season is up by 4%. aaa says people are traveling on a budget and maybe not traveling as far this year. the price of gas has gone down, it is higher than it was one year ago. we talked to one man from san jose who said he and his family, they were going to drive to l.a. for the holidays but canceled the trip because the price of gasoline was just too high. >> the car we have right now, we plan not to drive the suv because the gas is costing too much to ride with a big vehicle.

>> reporter: many people do not feel the same way as that guy. in fact. more than ten million californians are expected to be on the roads from friday through january 2nd. the airports should be less crowded. we understand that air travel is down by 9% compared to last year. live in flee month, monte francis, back to you. 6:36 now. a major threat to the delta region and it's back. the south american sponge plant was recently in the area again. if it's not dealt with, its can spread quickly and clog water delivery pumps and marinas. plant experts say they canner rad cat the sponge plant but their hands are tied by red tape. state law only provides funds to combat certain types of water weeds. sponge plants were first seen here in 2003 and appeared spore radically ever since. 6:36 right now. we'll check in with meteorologist christina loren with a check of the forecast.

>> a lot of people coming into town to try to get away from this. take a look at the eastern seaboard. they've got a nasty winter storm pounding everywhere, all the way from the florida panhandle through the new england stes. the good news is we only have delays reported out of newark, new jersey. otherwise looking pretty good. we'll fly you back home to the bay area now. what a different scenario here. clear sky overhead. it's the clear sky that makes for a cold start. temperatures this morning below the seasonal averages by five to ten degrees. running very cold. in the 30s in santa rosa and novato. at freezing in livermore and 38 in hayward. tonight i think we'll see some more clouds come in. a little trough of low pressure trying to nudge its way in. that's going to make for a little more mild temperatures, but really not by much. another cold one. dry days continue as high pressure takes the storm track way to our north as we head through the middle of next week towards the later portion of next week. until then we'll stay dry and

mild. i hope you enjoy the 60s. that's what we'll see today and tomorrow. cooler as we head toward the thursday. 60 today in oakland, 62 in san jose and 62 degrees in los gatos. here we go. let's take you through your holiday weekend looking really good for outdoor activities. last-minute shoppers don't have to dodge showers as you bring the bags full of christmas goods back to your car. 64 on christmas sunday. able to get outside, mild conditions. let's check your drive right now. maybe you're hopping on a bike or in a car headed to work. >> wherever you go, i hope you have the mittens. looking to the tri-valley, a nice pleasant commute. now 21-minute drive. that's a couple minutes longer than what it takes to get to central livermore. a disabled vehicle reported at el cerra, there may be an issue for distraction. no lane information.

still trying to get that from chp in your commute direction heading toward the dublin interchange. highway 4, a smooth drive from antioch, moving nicely to summersville. a new issue here, also a disabled vehicle. a flat tire reported. sounds like it's mostly to the shoulder, stay to your left as you're passing by willow pass. things could get nerve racking for the person fixing their tire on the shoulder. no major slowing through concord yet for 242. another look and see how things are shaping up at the bay bridge toll plaza. the live look shows a few folks stacking up in the cash lanes and fast track lanes. metering lights on for almost 15 minutes now. that's how slow the build is. still you have the metering lights heading into the city. back to you. it's 6:39 right now. coming up, bob redell is on his way to the north pole. he'll show us how the elves are getting everything ready, coming up. many of your current gadgets are about to become your old gadgets. will you dispose of them

properly? a live report from washington is d. [ terri ] my husband, hank, was always fun. never took life too seriously. 'til our son was born... that day, he bought life insurance. now, there's no way i could send our boy to college without it.

if there was one thing i could say to hank, it'd be "thank you." you're welcome. hey, hank. [ male announcer ] life insurance you can use while you're still living. you are one lucky lady. mm-hmm. [ male announcer ] learn more from your state farm agent today. guys... [ female announcer ] pillsbury cinnamon rolls with cinnabon cinnamon are an irresistible sunday morning idea. nothing calls them to the table faster.

sunday morning ideas made easy. [ younger brother ] oh, do you want it? yeah. ok, we'll split it. [ female announcer ] made fresh, so light... ...buttery and flaky... this is half. that is not half. guys i have more. [ female announcer ] do you have enough crescents? 6:42 right now. out with the old, in with the new. new electronics for the holidays means millions of pounds of the old stuff about to get chucked into the trash. "today in the bay's" tracie potts is live in washington, d.c. this morning. the holidays create a lot of e

waste these days. >> 3.5 million tons, a lot generated by households. we only recycle a quarter of that, families do. experts are suggesting that you think ahead about what you're going to do with all those old games and televisions and computers after the christmas holiday. international data corporation found that not only do we recycle very little of it, but also recycling can create 3,000 jobs, $5.2 billion for the economy they say, so it can be good for the economic situation as well. now, about a third of our states, 17 of them, ban residents from putting computers and other electronics in landfills. the concern there, led, mercury and other chemicals that may not be safe to seep into our ground water, so you have to find safer ways to dispose of them. also, if you're dropping cell phones and computers, be sure to zap the hard drive so you don't set yourself up for identity theft. here is what we found when you take a look in that report at a

few years ago versus last year. how are we recycling electronics? most of what we are recycling are computers and computer equipment. only about a third or 40%, is not being recycled. where we can pull up a bit is mobile devices. we've doukd the number of mobile devices we recycled just in the last few years. it's really only about one in ten. laura? >> thank you very much. 6:44. coming up, a new website launches today that can help you with health care. details still ahead. fashi show an vite-only fashi and a look at wall street just ahead. and save. home and auto policies don't worry, tiny people. flo is a gentle giant. bundle home and auto at progressive.com.

and it hasn't been going exactly as planned. cut. cut! [ monica ] i thought we'd be on location for 3 days -- it's been 3 weeks. so i had to pick up some more things. good thing i've got the citi simplicity card. i don't get hit with a fee if i'm late with a payment... which is good because on this job, no! bigger! [ monica ] i may not be home for a while. [ male announcer ] the new citi simplicity card. no late fees. no penalty rate. no worries.

welcome back everyone. good wednesday morning to you.

we want to check in with meteorologist christina loren with a look at the forecast. >> cold here. not quite as cold as the north pole where bob redell will be checking in from. something else we have to deal with that we didn't have to deal with yesterday, unhealthy air quality. it's the haze that makes for an absolutely gorgeous sunrise over the bay area. you can see that vividly here. we'll see a nice sunrise, clear sky overhead right off the bat. it will warm us up into the 60s later on. we've got to get through this bitter cold through about 9:00 a.m. we're watching for frost through the interior valleys of the north bay and east bay. unhealthy air quality, moderate everywhere else. we will see improvement when it comes to your air quality. this little trough you can see to the north of ukiah will try to drift. it will make more more mild conditions tonight. also it's going to intend to mix

up the atmosphere. not quite as much fog tomorrow morning. places like novato getting socked in at? point. today the temperatures will be on the climb at about 7:20. that's when the sun will rise. high pressure still in control, taking the storm track well to the north keeping things nice and dry. it's the quiet stagnant air mass that's really creating unhealthy air quality. we've got the pollution, unthem hi levels this morning in the north bay. as i showed you, that trough is going to mix us up a little bit. we should be better off in termination of your air quality tomorrow. 63 in livermore, 62 in san jose, you might be able to light the chimney on thursday morning. 61 in gilroy. it is illegal to burn. 64, christmas sunday, can't beat that, especially when you consider we had rain showers last christmas. by monday staying dry. then the really good news is we'll get some rain. it looks very likely now tuesday into wednesday. talking about christmas, the holidays, we're having a lytal volume of traffic overall these

next couple weeks. reare still seeing slowing northbound 101 around guadeloupe parkway. we should see slowing from northbound 101 and 87 into kodo over the next hour or some slowing southbound 17 as you approach the summit, those crews should be cleared and so should the slowingover the next, let's say, ten minutes or so. no major issues here. the peninsula looks nice all the way up into san francisco t. golden gate bridge shows the connection between the north bay and the city here. moves nice here as well. you can make out the silhouette of the marin headlights. fog and frost north of novato may be an issue for drivers. we'll look at the bay bridge as folks come into the city from the oakland side. we see even though the metering lights are on, we had a mild backup a few minutes ago getting lighter here, indicating how light that volume of traffic s. we'll continue to see lighter volume until tuesday when folks come back after those holidays and get that day of rest and

then, boom, the commute again. enjoy it. back to you. >> thank you very much. sexual harassment scandal for the golden state warriors this morning and one of the key players. "today in the bay's" christie smith joins us live from oakland with more on the lawsuit expected to be filed today. good morning, christie. >> reporter: good morning to you. the accuser is expected to come forward after the lawsuit is filed later this morning in oakland. her attorney is saying that she absolutely did not want to have a relationship with warriors player monta ellis. the suit claims the warriors star repeatedly text ld her and sexually harassed her. the attorney says some of the texting got graphic including photographs and the texting came early in the morning or late at night. >> ellis starting in november of 2010 began a series of incessant, unwanted text messages to my client.

>> reporter: the suit claims ellis accused this plaf of actually not doing her job and that the warriors management knew about the texting harassment. the attorney feels the team fired her to try to cover it up. ellis didn't make himself available for comment after last night's game. the team hasn't commented yet saying they haven't had a chance to see the lawsuit. live from oakland, christie smith. laura and march larks bark to you. 6:51. turns out pg&e's chief didn't have to wait for a phone call about the power outage at candlestick park. he saw it firsthand. the chronicle reports anthony early was in york's luxury box when the power went out. york is the team president. mayor ed lee reportedly stopped by the luxury box as well before sitting in the box owned by the city. >> wow, party in that box. 6:51 right now. city of oakland will announce it will hire an independent investigator to evaluate the police response to occupy

protests. the march you and city administrator want an outside party to evaluate the use of force during the demonstrations. the council will also consider a resolution to allow city leaders to 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. san francisco is honoring the life of a bay area billionaire and philanthropist. mayor ed lee is ordering flags on city and county buildings to be lowered in remembrance of warren helmand. helmand made his fortune in finance, but he's also known for his generosity to local causes. the 77-year-old died last sunday from complications of leukemia. a public service will be held this afternoon at 1:00 at congregation emanuel in san francisco. 6:52 right now. today the state is launching a new website to help californians plan long-term health care. the site is areyouready.

it includes tools, calculators and possible scenarios for individuals and households to plan. federal air safety regulators will issue knew rules today on pilot fatigue. stlr scientifically based limits on how many hours each day commercial pilots can sit behind an airplane's controls and how long they can be on the clock. in making them the faa wanted to guarantee pilots at least nine hours of rest between shifts instead of the eight now mandated. the agency also wants to reduce work days, especially for those flying short commuter routes. a fierce rivalry between the stanford cardinals and tennessee volunteers lady basketball team took a seat on the sidelines. team members and stanford fans came together to honor legendary volunteers coach pat summit. the 59-year-old was recently diagnosed with early stage alzheimer's disease. stanford rally bagless say we back pat. purple t-shirts were on fans

that said no owls. summit says it was a very emotional tribute. researchers at nasa-aimed research center in mountain view think they are close to finding a planet just like earth. they just found the first earth-sized planet orbiting a sun-like star outside our solar system. they say the planets are too close to the sun to support life. the kep lar space telescope says finding the planet to support life is just a matter of time. 6:54. 34 years after his death, elvis is still getting nominated for grammys. a five cd box set of presley's master recordings from 1956 is up for an award in the best historical album category. it's presley's 15th nomination. the first 14 came when he was alive. we won three grammys and the

lifetime achievement award in 1971. presley died in 1977 at the age of 42. 6:54. "today" show coming up in a if minutes. ann curry shows us what they're working on this morning. >> good morning, on a wednesday morning on "today." are your taxes about to go up? the congress deadlocked. we'll talk about that and the state of gop presidential race with white house hopeful michele bachmann. the florida doctor funding the legal bills of accused killer joran van der sloot. he calls her his guardian angel. this morning she'll open up about the relationship. we'll lighten things up with the stores to find the best holiday shopping deals, plus one family's christmas card tradition that turned them into internet sensations. wait till you see what they did for this year's card. those stories and a holiday performance from none other than tony bennett when we get started here on "today." we really can't complain

about our cool weather. it's a heat wave compared to where we've sent to day in the bay's bob redell. he's live near north pole alaska in a quest for a christmas interview with good old st. nick. good morning, bob. any luck? >> good morning, marla and laura. we thought santa was going to be too busy to talk with us. what we'll do is put that together and later tomorrow we'll leave fairbanks and bring you that report live from outside his house in north pole. one thing that did strike me is that santa the not the only one working his tail off. he wouldn't be able to pull off christmas eve without the help of all those elves. boy, is that a tough job. those guys are busy year-round. for example in the off season, training all those reindeer while santa is off relaxing at the beach. >> you get right back here, mister. >> reporter: and they're the guinea pigs when it comes to testing santa's new technology

like this tester that can tell whether the milk left on the mantle is sour. >> i'm okay, i'm okay. it's little sour. [ coughing ] >> reporter: i guess that scanner needs a little tweaking. he's okay. and if he isn't, there's tons more of them. by the way, it's only about 20, 23 degrees which, believe it or not, compared to all the years i've been here before is probably the warmest it's been. last year it was negative 40. i'm not complaining whatsoever. >> you need a little umbrella drink it's so hot out there. >> reporter: oh, yeah, heat wave. see you guys tomorrow live from the north pole. >> we'll certainly look forward to that. 6:57 right now. meantime, dreams of sugar plumbs on wall street this morning. we'll check in with scott mcgrew. >> good morning. wall street dow turning

negative. it's a neat open as we see the nut cracker with the various ballerinas and a very actual nut cracker there on the right. i don't see the mouse king, i'm sure he's nearby. dow industrials down this morning. redwood city based oracle turning in lousy numbers in the quarterly financial report. oracle has fallen 13%. tibco is down 11% even though that company did nothing wrong. in site of the times, an invite-only fashion show. san francisco based klout gives everyone a score based on how influential they are. you have to score 40 or higher to attend the fashion show. it's a bit like a story we brought you by a nightclub in new york that decide whod can come in based on how many twitter followers they have.

>> it's 6:58 right now. a check with christina loren. she would be in. >> i like a nice competition. good morning to you. hey, you're always welcome to add any of us. we love being your friends on facebook and of course twitter. it's cold. but we hit about 50 degrees inland by noon. 57 as you make your way home from work. just three more days before you get to enjoy that holiday weekend. our forecast shows if you're headed up there, no snow on the way. windy, kind of cloudy as well for today. we'll see a lot of sunshine through the next couple days. keep in mind they only have about two feet at the base. let's check your drive with mike. a look at oakland where although it's lighter volume of traffic, you still have company on the roads. no delays for 880 heading towards the bay bridge toll plaza. metering lights are on but you can't tell from this shot. a new accident at gillman on the eastshore freeway may slow you down as you come down out of san