>> new this morning a hit and run kill as man in oakland. who police are looking for right now. >> 56 fires in 36 hours, this morning police on the hunt for a serial arsonist. what they think is driving the trend. >> and the first republican primaries are under way this morning in new hampshire. and we're getting some results. who is in the lead coming up. >> a live look outside, smooth flowing on the golden gate bridge. it's tuesday, january 10th, this is "today in the bay."

>> good morning everyone. the time now is 4:30. i'm jon kelley. >> i'm laura garcia-cannon. lots to get to. let's check that forecast. a good tuesday morning to christina loren. >> good morning. i think we're going to get rain today especially in the north bay. the good news is we need that rain, a 20% to 30% shot at showers. we'll take you through the forecast. looking pretty good. this is our best chance for rain all week so we'll detail it all morning. let's find out about the drive. >> well, the rain not yet but we need the chance. so far dry roads allow for construction crews to be there. 680, you'll find a couple of lanes blocked north of the dublin interchange up to sycamore valley road. the opposite side has crews as well. we'll point out more for you guys in a few minutes. >> thank you, mike. >> the sleepy town of novato on high alert looking for an arsonist who set more than 50

fires. >> police and deputies are stepping up patrols. >> i ran outside and i saw the smoke in the air and fire trucks were here. >> reporter: robert lives next to one of the latest arson fires someone is starting. no one has been hurt but with no one in custody he worries homes are in danger. >> any bit of fire in a neighborhood like this is a concern especially with all of the attached units. >> reporter: starting saturday night someone set 56 small fires in just 36 hours. most are near homes. the fire department put out dozens of fires around south novato boulevard and redwood boulevard. monday morning crews battled fires in the rush creek open space preserve. with the number of fires increasing, novato police and fire along with marin county fire and the sheriff's department are boosting patrols. >> it could that be the person's recognizing that they are not

having much success with these small fires thus they are lighting a bunch of little ones hoping to get the larger fire. >> reporter: police won't say how the fires started but they are collecting evidence. >> we recover add few items at various locations. we don't want to discuss what those are. as the investigation continues they will be tested for accelerants. >> reporter: police hope they can stop the arsonist before another fire is set. word is spreading, lots of people we talked to said they plan to call police if they see anything suspicious. jean elle, nbc "today in the bay." >> it's 4:33. oakland police are searching for a driver in a deadly hit-and-run. it happened at the intersection of 73rd and bancroft avenues last night. police say a man was crossing the street when a driver struck him. the victim was taken to the hospital where he later died. police say the suspect stopped to check on the injured man before driving off.

>> the driver apparently pulled over right by this gas station behind me, got out of the vehicle and then looked at the pedestrian, probably saw how bad he was injured and then got back in the vehicle and took off immediately. >> police say the driver was in a dark colored full size van. >> an inmate at the santa rita jail is back. jose franco was spotted by residents riding his bike not far from the jail. officers made the arrest. police say they had a strategy for finding him all along. >> also there's a little bit of gamesmanship there, if you call off a search and helicopters are no longer in the air the person thinks you are no longer looking for them. they think they have gotten away and come out. that's what looks like what happened. >> police are trying to figure out thou 57-year-old was able to

escape from the booking area. he is only the fourth inmate to escape from the santa rita jail since 1990. a man jailed in a string of violent sexual assaults once worked for the city. frederick dozier's facebook says he worked part-time for the school district. police arresting him in connection with three violent sexual assaults last year. dozier is scheduled to appear in court on wednesday. >> it is 4:35 now. the possibility of higher taxes. today, the san jose council will discuss raising marijuana business tax from 7% to 10%. voters approved the initial tax on medical marijuana in november. some say the city is making it harder for them to do business with all of the restrictions. others say the tax makes them more legitimate.

>> governor brown's proposed tax hike might not bring in as much as he predicts. he says the proposal to raise tax on retail and high wage earners would bring in $6.9 billion a year to help close the budget gap. but the legislative analyst office estimates it would be less than $5 billion next year and about $5.5 billion in the years after that. brown hopes to put his proposal before voters come fall. >> it's 4:36 now. the first republican primaries are under way now in new hampshire. we're getting some results already in. tracie potts has the latest from manchester. >> the polls are open. >> after midnight mitt romney and jon huntsman died for first with two votes each. this morning the rest of new hampshire decides. >> i hope you're going to give me a bigger margin of victory than 8 votes i got in iowa. >> romney is the clear front-runner. will it be a big win?

newt gingrich and others hammer away at his record. gingrich predicts he will do better than expected. >> mccain was ahead in 2000. we'll see. i sense a lot of momentum. >> ron paul is polling second. jon huntsman told a standing room only crowd she hoping for a strong finish. >> you feel momentum in the air. we're going to surprise a lot of people in this country tomorrow night. >> stick to the romney. >> his supporters predict success today. >> he's worked incredibly hard in new hampshire. that deserves to be rewarded. >> rick santorum is not expected to pull off an iowa surprise. rick perry focused on south carolina. >> new hampshire, they are a winowing process. south carolina picks presidents. that's what you do. >> in 60 years, no republican has won the nomination without

winning first or second place right here in new hampshire. tracie potts, nbc news, manchester, new hampshire. >> i guess you could say more monkey business at san francisco zoo. security guards caught three men trespassing sunday night. they say they just hopped a fence to get in. this break-in comes about ten days after the disappearance after squirrel monkey. he was found a day later at a park. it's not clear if this latest break-in is connected. >> a check of the forecast now with meteorologist christina loren. >> good morning. well, our usually dry pattern looks like it's going to persist as we head through the latter section of the week. today is our best chance for rain. you can see from your satellite imagery a bit of a dip in the jet stream and we've got this area of low pressure that's cutting off. what we're expecting is to kind of sidle down the coastline as we head throughout the day, so we've got about a 20% to 30%

chance of showers south of the golden gate bridge, 40% for areas to the north. so, we're not expecting much but we'll take what we can get. after today high pressure builds back in and we're talking about dry conditions throughout remainder of the week. at 34, 2 above freezing in santa rosa. we're expecting to drop off as we head through the next couple of hours, even more so. a cool start. that will make way to a mild afternoon. temperatures in the mid to upper 50s as you break for lunch, then about 5 to 8 degrees cooler than yesterday but on the warm side. 62 in san jose. in my next report i'll tell you when we might get another chance of rain at the end of the weekend. and i've got the seven-day forecast ready to go. so that's in my next report. first check your drive with mike inouye. >> more construction crews. one that my friends called and told us about as well. one of our crew, we have

construction and paving work they told me about going on eastbound 237 at northbound 880. that's scheduled for a few minutes. what you do is pass by there, jump back on north bound 880, no major slowing because of the light traffic throughout the south bay, though, a smooth flow northbound with sensors, continuing up to 101 in palo alto. you see slowing. the on and off ramps are closed for the time being, likely until closer to 6:00 a.m. slowing might be because of the construction vehicles. we'll let you know if anything else is going on. san mateo bridge, no problems, clear view. no slowing on your bay area bridges because the traffic is so light. back to you. >> thanks so much, mike. >> 4:40. bart could come to the south bay sooner than expected. we'll let you know what could get this rolling. >> the gadgets make their debut.

what's making headlines at the consumer electronics show. >> a championship rematch. who came out on top in that bcs title matchup. e. but you go in pieces. [ female announcer ] you can't pass mom's inspection with lots of pieces left behind. that's why there's charmin ultra strong. its diamondweave texture is soft and more durable versus the ultra rippled brand. so it holds up better for a more dependable clean. fewer pieces left behind. i go in peace. yes, you do my little alien. [ female announcer ] we all go. why not enjoy the go with charmin ultra strong?

>> welcome back. a live look over san francisco international airport. all is calm, still very early out there. christina loren will be along. mike inouye talking about the traffic. it's 4:43. >> we know vegas doesn't sleep.

the biggest tech event kicks off, the annual consumer electronics show in las vegas is showing off the next generation of gadgets. scott budman gives us a peek. >> welcome to 2012 gadgets galore. we've got tons of stuff to show you. hp, this is the spectre. an ultra book made out of gorilla glass. 1399 it comes out in february. we've got apps in technology to help you lose weight. this is a company called digital storm. liquid cool. not to mention i-robot. this one aimed at health care, will deliver prescription meds wherever you are. and a way to use your smart phone to control your remote camera, touch your phone once to start, and once to stop. i'm scott budman, nbc bay area

news. >> cool stuff. thank you. a pretty good start to the week on wall street. right now let's get a check on the markets. bertha coombs joins us live. good morning. >> hey, good morning. the first five days of the year the theory goes if the first five days are up, then the rest of the year is morep more likely up about 85% of the time. we had the january effect looks pretty good and futures are following suit for the sixth trading day of the year. look likes we might get 100-point pop in the dow. alcoa is a stock to watch, the dow component reported earnings yesterday in the aluminum giant reported a loss but says that it is still expecting demand to grow this year so its outlook was bullish. asia was higher. europe is higher today. ahead of a meeting between german chancellor angela merkel and the ims chief. they continue to deal with the

debt crisis. one economic report coming outin the u.s., that's wholesale trade due out at about 10:00 a.m. the dow at 1212,392. meantime, americans are feeling more comfortable taking on debt again or so it seems. consumer borrowing surged in november to $20.4 billion t largest monthly gain in a decade. people taking out loans to buy cars and swiping the credit card for holiday gifts. americans' wages aren't keeping pace and many are tapping savings or borrowing more. twinkies, well, they may have a long shelf life, legend has it maybe seven years but the company that makes them may not. "wall street journal" reports that hostess brand could file for bankruptcy protection this week. it would be the second

restructuring for the company in two years. the company which also makes wonder bread emerged from bankruptcy last september. it would be sad if they stopped making twinkies even though i don't eat them any more they were my childhood favorite. >> can never have enough cream-filled snacks around. bertha, thank you. >> 4:47. want to check the forecast with christina loren. not typical. >> no. it's been so dry, but the thing is, if we are going to have extreme weather at least we're seeing record warmth in january. today, unfortunately, we're taking your highs back down to the seasonal averages. this morning it's cold out there. grab a jacket. expecting patchy fog as we head through the next hours. right now looking mostly clear from marin county down along the peninsula. 44 degrees in hayward. 36 in livermore. chilly 31 in gilroy. so temperatures this morning are running right on track.

this afternoon finally we're going to see a little bit of what we're accustomed to this time of year. unfortunately we need the rain and our best chance for rain is today. so, jet stream is taking that storm track into the pacific northwest. a little more moisture in the northern portion of the state. what we expect is this area of low pressure to cut off from the jet stream. it's going to sidle down the coastline as we head throughout day so our best chance for rain will be in areas in sonoma county along the coast of the peninsula. that's going to continue to move to the south throughout the day. we expect onshore flow and we're expect the fog. not yet a problem but we'll watch that for you. 62 degrees later today. 62 in redwood city and 60 in oakland. we eliminated the 70s even from the warmest cities across the bay. all you'll hit is going to be about 63 tops. that's not too bad for this time of year. we could be holding on to the upper 50s inland. that's not the case. seven-day outlook shows you a little more after chance for

rain sunday into monday. it's a holiday weekend. i know you want to get outdoors. we're not expecting much. don't cancel your outdoor plans. we'll keep watching that. that's our next opportunity for a little precip here in the bay area. back to you guys. >> thank you, christina. air show safety will be the subject of a hearing in washington today. you may recall the crash at the reno air show last year when a world war ii era plane nose-dived into the stands, killing 11 people. the crash sparked an investigation into plane modifications and safety regulations for air shows and races. regulators, aviation groups and airport authorities will also participate in today's hearing with the ntsb. >> new video surfaced of a terror suspect showing him picking a fight in florida. this video shows us the man shouting at the street creature outside a lady gaga concert in

april. the 25-year-old is under arrest for allegedly trying to buy explosives. he is charged with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. >> this one was the college football showdown everybody was waiting for. that bcs championship game between alabama and lsu. it was a rematch after lsu won back in november, this time around, bama had the magic. three field goals. up 9-0 at the half. then a late touchdown putting the exclamation point on a convincing 21-0 victory for alabama. this was the first shutout ever in a bcs bowl game. alabama two national titles, building a little bit after dynasty. >> 4:50 now. b.a.r.t.'s plans for a south bay extension take as big step forward. the funding that will make the plans a reality. >> environmentalist hopes to put the brakes on construction for

the america's race. that could stop progress on new terminals. >> 880 fast coliseum, a little construction, no slowing despite the crews out there. we have more things to point out. i'll show you what's going on with the commute coming up.

>> for:53 now. the deal to extend the b.a.r.t. to the south bay clears its last major hurdle today. the u.s. department of transportation will ask congress to set aside more than $900 million for b.a.r.t. over the next decade. that funding will be the green light to move forward with the extension project from fremont to san jose. congress has 60 days to review the recommendation but approval is expected. the b.a.r.t. line could open in 2016, two years earlier than projected. >> 4:54 now. the owners of the great america theme park expected stew sign a new lease as the city moves forward with plans for the 49ers new stadium. the council meeting today to approve an amendment to park's lease that releases the overflow parking lot to allow for construction of the new stadium. the agreement will allow the theme park parking lots to be used for stadium event parking. >> san francisco supervisors are

expected to decide whether construction related to the america's cup can move forward. four environmental and neighborhood groups filed an appeal claiming possible fuel leaks from a giant floating tv screen could pollute the bay waters. the appeal could halt construction at the james r. herman cruise terminal depending how the supervisors vote. a second appeal will be considered in a few weeks. >> we are five minutes before 5:00. let's check that commute to work. mike inouye is here to tell us about it. >> good morning. we'll tell you about more construction that should be clearing up in the next half hour or so. as you come off of the carquinez bridge, westbound 80, more construction passing el portal. we have screws on scene. that should be clearing up closer to 5:30. the bay bridge toll plaza gave you one of the reasons. there is a light flow

approaching but it is a tuesday, we expect a heavy volume and that will start slowing over the next half hour through many spots. >> thanks so much. >> what would you do if you came face-to-face with the king of the jungle? i think i would run. how about this. a 3-year-old girl from new zealand, she won a stare-down contest. you got to see this. >> amazing. take a look. it was shot by her parents while visiting the zoo. she comes face-to-face with the lion. the only thing separating them is a piece of glass. but the lion, he begins to paw at the glass. >> look at her. zookeepers say the cat has a history of mood swings. the girl who turns 4 next month says she wants to return to the zoo. take a look again. a stare-down, then a paw. >> barely, like yeah. >> she doesn't flinch. >> my new hero. it's 4:56. still ahead on "today in the

bay" police and residents on the hunt for an arsonist. >> the state assembly woman accused of shoplifting from a high end department store speaks out against those charges. why she says she's not afraid to take responsibility for her actions. >> for all of your news, weather, traffic and good things, check us out on facebook. search nbc bay area news. ♪

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>> new this morning san jose mayor chuck reed wants to take more action against -- i'm going to tell you what's on his agenda coming up. >> the question is why did she do it? a bay area assembly woman talks about her plea to shoplifting charges. >> a live look outside, golden gate bridge, not a lot of traffic to report. we'll see if things will pick up on this