fire rips through two large homes in the berkeley hills. dozens of neighbors are evacuated. this morning firefighters are on scene. i'll have the story coming up in a live report. also how two bay area cities plan to crack down on people breaking the law this new year's eve. and the state supreme court ready to make a ruling to affect every city in the state. we'll have all the details coming up. and here's a live look atside. it's san francisco. it's hard to tell. it's so early in the morning on

this thursday. yeah, a little bit dark outside. it's 4:30. "today in the bay" starts now. good morning, everyone. it's 4:31. i'm jon kelley. >> let's get to the forecast with christina loren. good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you. it's balmy in san francisco and san mateo. we'll watch visibilities all morning long. mike inouye already watching that on the roads. good morning, mike. i'm watching the bay area bridges.

although you can make out there's fog drifting through here. visibility is low across the bridges. we'll track them. back to you. >> thank you very much. fire crews are still on scene in the berkeley hills after a brush fire badly damages two multimillion dollar homes. this happened in a heavily wooded neighborhood on miller avenue last night. christie smith is live in berkeley with more on the fire. christi. good morning. >> good morning, marla. the fire ripped through two homes. this one there and another behind the trees. i just spoke with firefighters on the scene. they say they're making sure the homes are security and no flare-ups overnight. this started at 8:30 on miller

avenue. more than a dozen homes were evacuated. it quickly jumped through three alarms and burned through power lines. one neighbor said it moved so fast he had to do everything he could to get out of the way to the next door fire. >> try to get water on the fire. i saw sparks and grab the dog and ran. four firefighters were injured. i'm christie smith. marla and john, back to you. >> east bay police looking for a driver who hit a pedestrian trying to get away from police officers.

they ran off striking a ped on a sidewalk during a getaway. the police are still looking for the woman. police are also looking for a man who ran san francisco police car. it happened in oakland last night. plain clothed officers got a tip that an assault suspect was in an oakland neighborhood. we're happy to say no officers were hurt. police are looking for the person who assaulted a woman a woman was pushing her 2-year-old son in a stroller when she heard footsteps and was suddenly on the ground. when her san began to cry the

attacker took off. oakland police are keeping an eye on a vacant lot trying to make sure protesters do not reoccupy the site. one man was arrested. 14 others were cited for trespassing and then released. police in two peninsula cities want to remind people celebrating the new year should not include using illegal fireworks. they plan to use shot technology this year. a special police unit in east pal low although will also control them. anyone caught and convicted of firing a weapon in the air could face up to three years in

prison. the court will decide if the state can legally take $1.7 billion to close the gap. crews in san jose and union city both filed a suit claiming it violates prop 22 state lawmakers and the governor argued the legislature has final say on all funding. you can tune in to the news at 11:00. good morning. it's 4:36. i had to open my bedroom window. you know about that. >> i had to do the same thing. this morning in san francisco

you can turn et off all together. we have so many clouds trapping in the warmth. take a look at temperatures in the north bay. what a difference. 49 degrees in santa rosa. but a pretty fair amount of cloud cover. five degrees warmer than 24 hours ago in san jose. six degrees warmer in hayward. thursday, onshore flow increases. we'll see a stronger onshore flow. as we head throughout the day, that fog will hang around for the most part all day long. likely in the 60s yet again. we are expecting all the low cloud cover to drift south

throughout the morning hours. in fact rng i'm bringing it up to a 40% chance. we'll see the winds pick up with cool, cloudy conditions with evening clearing. >> drive quality pretty good over the past couple of weeks. but we'll look at the construction. improving the quality of the road. just about 20 minutes or so until the crews move from 101 but both have issued fog advisories early this morning let's get a live look at the bridge. the camera shows a smooth, clear, flat section. it's tough to see parts of the rise in the distance. we're looking over to the maps

again. the toll plaza visibility is okay there. and the lower deck just lost the lights. it's a little bit different. back to you. >> the south pacific nation of samoa will not have a december 30th this year. instead, tomorrow is going to be december 31st. they have decided to shift west of the international date line instead of east of it. that line decides where a new day begins. by changing the location they will be on the same calendar as trading partners in the region. anyone in the opportunity who works tomorrow will be paid for it, even though the company is skipping straight to december 31st. >> it's a drag if your birthday is december 30th. then no cakes or gifts.

>> new reports that charges could be filed in response to that massive bp oil spill. >> plus a controversial plan to develop a vacant building is getting a second look. >> and he says, yeah, he's ready to play for the 49ers. and for all your news, weather and traffic update check us out on facebook. hey, your high speed internet here, at home...

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or your money back. welcome back. we'll check the forecast with christi in loren in just a minute. your time is 4:43. >> the government will have to pay $18 million to the family that lost four members when a marine corps fighter jet crashed into they're san diego home in 2008. this is three years to the day that he buried his wife and two daughters. a mechanical failure along with a bad decision making pilot trainees caused the crash. he says he harbors no ill will. the military disciplined 1 members of the marines and the navy for the errors.

invest gay r tors spent yesterday looking at the southwest jet that blew two tires. the airline says the plane will not return. 132 passengers on the flight bound for sael was hurt. light trading on wall street as 2011 wraps up. for details oen that we turn to jackie delaware angeles live at cnbc headquarters. >> thank you. the futures are higher this morning. there was an initial positive reaction to an italian bond auction. it had a ten year low against the yen on continued worries about debt crisis. the asian markets fell overnight. europe pretty much flat. we'll get data on unem ploim.

manufacturing, impending home sales. and we saw the dow drop. the nasdaq losing 39. federal prosecutors going to file the first criminal charges stemg from the bp oil spill in the gulf of mexico last year. the focus is on houston based volunteers and one supervisor. they may have provided false information about the risk associated with the well. a conviction could carry a penalty of up to five years in prison. it was followed by taylor swift, kenny chesny. there are going to be big shows

in 2012 to watch for as well. beach boys and rolling stones are celebrating 50th anniversaries. >> now let's get to the forecast with chris tee na lortina loren >> you don't have to worry about frigid conditions. that's the gad news. limited sunshine for the first part of the day. in the south bay t sun will breakthrough the clouds by noon today. san francisco, expecting more clouds than sun with a lot of fog developing. 51 in san mateo. a mild start. this morning the mildest start in almost two weeks. 7 degrees warmer in san mateo.

quite a bit of cloud cover dividing the bay area. most of the clouds are situated over the north bay. increasing clouds ahead of a front that will bring in some showers. just about everywhere will get a little bit of precipitation. not much. go ahead and wash the car. don't wait for the rain to do it. mike and i will be tracking the highways for you all morning long. less than a quarter mile visibility in some cities. santa rosa, napa and concord. so then the coast you have the marine layer pushing on shore. so you'll find fog everywhere through the first part of your door. that's when we'll start to drop off in places like san jose. area of low pressure rides north overnight. that will bring about a little bit of rainfall. the good news is better air quality as we cake off your saturday. the winds will pick up and mix

up the atmosphere, mix up all the haze that's just been suspended under stagnant air mass. then here's the good news. we'll see more rain the end of next week. the jet stream starts to take a dip. the pineapple express sets up. we'll talk about that all morning. >> 4:48. round two between neighbors and people in campbell for the people trying to open a nightclub in the city's historic downtown. and also denying an application to turn a historic bank into a club and a restaurant. next week the proposal will get a second look. people aren't happy about it. >> people need the proposal to open a new restaurant and lounge

inside the day care behind me. many people say they don't want a venue like that in downtown campbell. >> three years. more than $2 million invested. it comes down to the type of arrangement that can sustain the initial investment. it's either a straight nightclub or kind of a combination concept. >> the concept property owner says would be turning the old growers national bank building located in the heart of campbell into a restaurant/lounge. >> open for lunch, open for dinner, then there's the need on his part to stay open until 2:00 a.m. >> that's while he says the project was unanimously denied.

it was proposing 250. which would put us as 50% occupancy rate. it appears to be overtaxing the police department. the city council will be given another public hearing. >> i'm interested to hear what changes are being brought. >> already on the street, there's a divide. that type of late night activity is not what we want to be known for. >> it's a beautiful building. >> and the city council will decide what will happen to the old building. they'll hear of the new proposal on january 3rd. >> thank you very much.

now a familiar, but always controversial wide receiver says no sweat. he's ready to step in. that is 38-year-old and former niner terrell owens. he heard edwards was released and tweeted dante let them know i'm ready. he hasn't played this season. he's still recovering are the knee surgery. speculation is the niners will instead choose somebody from their practice squad. >> 4:51 now. a rose bowl player being call adhere row. what he did to earn the title is coming up. plus, getting rid of the baths of 2011. a little known end of the year tradition. and hoping to stay away from there on the roadways. so far you're okay for 580 through oakland as you approach the bay bridge. i have a note for folks trying to cross.

welcome back, everyone. it's 4:54. a rose bowl football player wearing the title of hero this morning. he saved a choking man last night. he stepped up as a team, eating

at lowry's restaurant when the father of if fellow player began choking on steak. he performed the heimlich maneuver to help the man cough up the meat. good news, he's expected to be okay. the entire team was at the restaurant for the traditional beef bowl at the dinner for rose bowl players before the ball game. oregon is set to play with compton in the rose bowl on monday. before the game, don't choke on your steak and check out the rose parade here on nbc bay area january 2nd. our coverage starts at 8:00, right and early in the morning. it is 4:55. let's check the roads with mike inouye. how we look sng. >> they're looking good. very light volume the last couple of weeks. we have a few issues affecting a lot of roadways. it's the fog. there's a fog advisory for the bay bridge. as we get a live shot, reports of the lower deck eastbound to the lower side, the lights are out. often times the shot looks

normal. there are no interruptions to the traffic flow. just a note, prepare for a darker commute. but it looks like everything is okay. back to the maps. we'll show you the maze from oakland. berkeley, no problem. a fog advisory off the carquinez bridge. slow it down. we'll track the roads. so far things are looking pretty good. as 2011 comes to a close, many americans are getting rid of things that did not work out for them the past year. a number of people turned out in new york's time square yesterday to celebrate good riddance day. this is when people say good-bye to relationships that went sour, bad vacation experiences, or unemployment. one woman says taking a sledge hammer to her bad memories made her feel much better. >> i had the helmet in my room.

every time i looked at it it reminded me of him. >> look at that. the paper shreders. they can smash away the bad memories. it's 4:57. a pair of jewel thieves finally caught. plus we have the results of a dui sweep in alameda county. >> and for all your news, weather and traffic updacheck uo ec.us ok on facebook.

we're moments away from finding out if your town will have to cough up millions back to