>> reporter: look out, it is wet and windy this monday morning. i'm christie smith. coming up what you need to know if you are going to head over a bridge. >> san francisco's embattled new sheriff returns to court today. when his trial is expected to take place. >> and heartbreak at the stick. how the 49ers and fans are coping with the disappointing finish at the nfc championship. >> live look outside this morning, golden gate bridge approach for this monday, january 23rd, this is "today in the bay."

>> good morning. the time is 4:30. i'm jon kelley. >> i'm laura garcia-cannon. lots to get to. let's check that forecast with meteorologist christina loren. >> good morning to you. you want to give yourself plenty of time to reach your destination as we still have showers on the radar this morning. in addition to those showers a wind advisory is in place until 6:00 a.m. so watch for debris on the highways, speaking of which mike has an incident. >> to the east shore freeway up until a few minutes ago we had a sigalert for westbound 80 at gilman a. big rig accident blocking all lanes because they had to move the rig. you might have heard it closed. it reopened. i'll give you more details coming up in a few minutes.

>> if you haven't been out there are strong winds whipping through the area. >> it's making for a sloppy commute and may have caused accidents. christie smith joins us live on the bay bridge. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. certainly a sloppy and wet start to your monday morning commute. high wind advisory out here. we're near the bay bridge. i want to show you. they have the signs lit up. i got off the phone with the chp, it's in effect for the san mateo bridge. more on that but i wanted to give you a look at interstate 80 westbound, that big rig accident mike was talking about. that caused a huge backup near gilman overnight. i was stuck in that not moving for about 25 minutes on my way in. that just cleared up. there was also an accident eastbound, lots of water standing on the freeways this morning, back to that advisory, it also includes the dumbarton and the richmond/san rafael bridges, travel not advised for

higher profile trucks and campers. the rain is on again and off again. the winds 20 to 25 miles per hour. tahoe, the word is chains on 80 and 50. i got off the phone with the chp saying considering all of the weather we had it really hasn't been that bad but certainly something to keep in mind. it's wet and wild this morning as you head out the door. reporting live near the bay bridge, i'll send it back to you guys. >> in fact, winter storms are blamed for the death of a ranger at yosemite national park. 27-year-old ryan hiller was killed when strong winds blew down a tree on his tent. hiller was a part-time ranger at the park. >> in the meantime, as christie mentioned, snow near lake tahoe making for dangerous road conditions there. chains are required this morning on i-80. most ski resorts report about two feet of new snow over the past couple of days. not much automatic at this point resorts happy to get whatever

they can. >> hugely different. we were probably 20 feet of snow at this point, so it's quite a bit of difference from one extreme to a record breaking snow to a record breaking drought year is interesting. >> after seeing the holidays pass with little to no snow many retailers put a lot of merchandise on sale. it's winter gear that normally wouldn't be discounted until after presidents day weekend. >> san francisco sheriff ross mirkarimi returning to court to seat date for trial, facing three misdemeanor charges related to an alleged case of domestic violence against his wife. last week he pleaded not guilty to the charges. the sheriff has been ordered to stay away from his wife and son in the meantime. the mayor has asked mirkarimi to consider whether he can continue to do his job effectively with all of these legal issues he's facing. the trial is expected to take

place sometime in march. >> also in court today, opening arguments set to begin in the murder trial of an alleged gang member in san francisco. edwin ramos accused of killing a father and two sons. allegedly part of the ms 13 street gang. police say ramos may have mistaken the men for rival gang members. this trial also expected to last for months. >> 49er fans including us here on the set here still recovering this morning from the heartbreak of last night's big time downer with the loss to the giants. >> the loss in overtime was a huge disappointment to the hundreds of fan who is gathered at pete's tavern. fans told us they are still proud the niners came so far, exceeding expectations. the loss hurt just the same. >> trying really hard to hold the tears back. it was a good season but man, they blew it. we had it. it was our game to win and they

blew it. >> across town at a bar called aces giants fans are celebrating. as happy as they are they are still proud of their hometown team. one 49ers player feeling the sting. kyle williams, the team's backup punter, he says it's a tough, very tough to deal with that loss. >> we'll move forward but it's one of those things you hate to be the last guy that had the ball and to give it up in that way, to lose with a game of this magnitude. it is what it is and we're going to move forward as a team. >> last night several hateful messages and threats were posted to his twitter account, many of those have been taken down. >> that's not in good taste. in the meantime t 49ers leadership standing strong and staying optimistic. in an interview with nbc bay area the team president and ceo

talked about the heartbreaking loss. >> it's tough to end this way but we know we have a ways to go. we know we'll get there. >> nobody can argue it's been a phenomenal first year for my man jim harbaugh as coach. this could be the beginning of a very long playoff run in the years to come. >> might take a while to get over it but we'll get over it. this team is not defeated. by any stretch of the imagination. >> so, it's the giants advancing to the super bowl to take on the patriots, that takes place in indianapolis. you can watch that big game here on nbc bay area. february 5th. the first betting line out today, patriots three-point favorites. >> meantime, police say security at candlestick park was acceptable though not perfect. police arrested several people on charges of public

intoxication, battery and resisting arrest. one female police officer had to use pepper spray to subdue a fan. the number of calls was typical for a game. >> 4:37. a busy morning for meteorologist christina loren. we have rain, we have wind. what's happening? >> you know what, it's not just this morning that we have to worry about it. it's coming down all weekend long. good morning to you. this is the last day that we're going to deal with the showers. we're going to see a ridge of high pressure build in as we head through the second half of the day, drying out nicely so you can see from our real time doppler radar where the showers are, kind of widely scattered across the bay area, san jose you got hit about with five minutes ago so watch for slick conditions. here is the ridge. this is going to bring us fair conditions as we head through pretty much all week. we don't have good rain chances in the forecast until maybe this weekend. looks like this for today. 57 in san jose, 59 for milpitas and 57 in palo alto.

we're going to start cloudy, breezy to windy. for the second half of the day, mostly sunny, great air quality. open up the windows and it won't be too cold. by 9:00 a.m. today a little bit of shower activity pushing into the south bay. after that by about 11:00 we'll see mostly clear conditions across the bay area. i'll take you through the seven-day outlook, first we want to check your drive. an incident out there. >> a few, a lot, because of the rain a lot of flooding in many spots. usual stuff. especially lucky drive and the north bay. we're also looking at the east shore freeway, that's cleared up off the richmond/san rafael bridge. we have at golden gate field, the exclamation point the bay bridge. a wind advisory. also for the san mateo bridge. watch all of the bay area bridges, gusty winds, could be a major issue on your drive. on the peninsula, southbound 280 at page mill road, an earlier

accident. sounds like one lane is blocked. we had slowing on the southbound side which has just cleared over the last few seconds. watch it along 101 and 28 between san francisco and the south bay. the wet roadway conditions and very slick on and off ramps. the south bay looking pretty good. we have slow spots for 17 and 3 2 237. this we do know, there is a lane blocked southbound 17 at bear creek road that's going to be an issue toward the summit out of los gatos. we'll watch a lot of stuff popping up. be careful and watch for spin-outs. >> thank you, mike. you might notice airline tickets looking more expensive. but there is good news as well. the new rules for airlines that should make budgeting for your next trip a little easier. >> plus, on to florida. gop presidential candidates taking their campaigns south with new pledges to release tax returns. >> emotional farewell. why congresswoman gabrielle giffords is leaving office.

>> for all of your news, weather and traffic and a lot of other good things, check us out.bo ook facebook. search nbc bay area news. ch

>> welcome back everyone. a live look at 880 in oakland, traffic kind of moving slowly. be careful out there. roads are a little slick. we have precipitation, wind out there, christina and mike will be along to tell you about.

4:43. >> three states, three winners so far in the republican presidential race. now the focus shifts to florida. rick santorum, newt gingrich and mitt romney making rounds around the state. after losing south carolina romney is reminding voters of gingrich's failed leadership in washington. >> what's he been doing for 15 years? working as a lobbyist, yeah, and selling influence around washington. >> i was not a lobbyist, i was never a lobbyist, i never did lobbying. >> in the meantime, both romney and rick santorum say they will release their tax returns this week. romney is leading most polls in florida but one poll puts gingrich ahead by 8%. >> congresswoman gabrielle giffords will step down this week in order to devote her energy to her rehabilitation. she release add video to make that announcement. >> i will step down this week.

i'm getting better. every day my spirit is high. i will return. >> gabrielle giffords suffered brain damage a year ago when a gunman opened fire as she met with constituents at a supermarket. six people died. there will be a special election to fill her seat. >> a letter will cost you more t postal service raised the price of first class stamps one penny, 45 cents now. it's the first increase in more than two years. postage for a post card increased to 32 cents and letters to canada or mexico now cost 85 cents. forever stamps are still valid for first class mail. >> good to know that. i have a lot of those. 4:45 now. a check on the markets, jackie is live at cnbc. we'll look at how wall street is starting off this week. good morning. >> good morning, jon.

futures are slightly higher but in a positive week for wall street with the dow, the nasdaq and the s&p 500 closing up 2% or more. the cloud of europe's debt crisis is hanging over the markets. most of asia is closed for chinese new year, japan fell and european markets are mixed. no economic data out in the u.s. about it invest terse watching several events this week including a fed meet, president obama's state of the union speech and gdp numbers. the dow closed at 12,720, the nasdaq losing 1 point to close at 2786. jury selection begins in the long delayed trial of one-time billionaire allen stanford accused of running a ponzi scheme involving bogus bank cds, he was arrested and was beaten during a jail house fight. opening arguments are expected to begin on tuesday.

a reboot for blackberry. the two men who led research in motion since the beginning resigned under pressure from investors. stock is at eight-year low t company struggled, the sales have been ellipsed by the iphone and android devices. they were slow to respond to the ipad. the play book has been bet poor reviews and poor sales. >> thank you very much for the report. >> let's check our forecast with meteorologist christina loren. she has a look at current conditions. >> it's raining out there. it has been pretty much all night long. some places heavier than others, i'm talking about at the coast. give yourself plenty of time. a lot of puddles, ponding on the highways even. especially through the construction zones. you can see from the real time doppler radar we still have showers coming down, mostly on the east end of the bay area. you can see a lot of that activity starting to push into the valley. we have a batch of rain and san jose we got wet about 15 minutes

ago. make sure you're ready for slick highway conditions. we're done with the rain as we head through the second half of the day. you can see a big ridge of high pressure shaping up. this is going to bring us fair skies as we head through the second half of the day. the sun will be out. we have good air quality. we're going to hold on to fair conditions all week. 57 degrees for today in morgan hill, 57 in palo alto, 59 in concord and 56 in fairfield. we'll see uniform conditions because temperatures are starting out mild. it's not frigid cold out there, not yet. likely to be the case as we head toward the second half of this week. some cold starts with clear skies in the forecast. because of that remnant moisture we're going to have to get through thick fog starting on thursday morning. saturday, sunday looking pretty good. maybe a few showers saturday morning. but hey, by sunday another ridge of high pressure moves in keeping things mild. you can get out this weekend without having to worry about

the rain. back to you guys. >> thanks so much. new rules go into effect that should make buying your next plane ticket less confusing. >> the key word is should. the rules meant to make sure travelers aren't surprised by hidden fees. the regulations include posting the total cost of a ticket including baggage. airlines are required to let passengers know when a plane is canceled or delayed more than 30 minutes and travelers have a 24-hour window to hold or cancel a reservation at no cost. >> get a better gauge how to budget for airfare, vacation planning. >> experts say we could see more airfare hikes even with the new fee disclosures. >> some college students putting class work into action. the move to raise the minimum wage. >> the promising drug to help cancer patients that comes from a marijuana plant. where it's being tested.

>> welcome back everyone. a live look outside from the south bay this morning. we're getting rain coming down. how long will it last? we'll check in with

meteorologist christina loren. it's 4:52. >> students at san jose state pushing to raise the minimum wage. the issue could end up on the november ballot. the students all part of a sociology class. they submitted a initiative to raise the minimum wage to $10. if it's approved the students need to collect close to 20,000 signatures to get this on the ballot. >> san leandro police need help finding a woman suspected of at least eight armed robberies. the woman is coming up on the screen, she is black, between 16 and 25 years old, 5'8", weighs about 130 pounds. her dark hair could have highlights and she usually wears it pulled back or wears it under a wrap. investigators say she approaches her victims on foot and after asking them for the time she pulls out a gun and demands

money. >> 4:53. we may be a few years away from seeing a new drug to help cancer patients that comes from the marijuana plant. a british company is in advanced trials using pot to create a mouth spray for treating cancer pain. the drug has been approved in canada, new zealand and eight european countries for relieving muscle spasms. it's associated with multiple sclerosis. the hope is to have fda approval by late next year. >> it's still early but it is wet out there. mike inouye here to talk about your commute. >> chp blotter changes like it's just to update changing situations. right now what we have is an institute for 580. sounds like there is a disabled vehicle. there was a report of an accident but sounds like everything whatever it is going on is over on the shoulder of the roadway. nearby we have southbound 680 at the 580 interchange, dublin

interchange out of the san ramon valley. we have flooding reported there blocking at least a couple of lanes as far as the water goes. no lanes are closed. that's the issue. be careful as you get out there. crews will check the drains. we'll follow this, but no major slowing there. highway 24 at the orinda off ramp we had lanes affected by water. chp cleared that incident, saying the flooding is not a major issue. it will be a problem as water continues to be on the roads and off ramps throughout the morning. we'll continue to follow no. problems through the maze as far as the flooding goes. a look at the the san mateo bridge. the camera from time to time is shaking. to the right it says high wind advisory. that's the case for the san mateo bridge, the dumbarton bridge had a warning. the bay bridge, and watch all of the crossings, as you hit the high rises you can get caught with a gust or two. back to you. >> thank you very much. a dutch teen has unofficially become the youngest person to sail around the world by

herself. >> her name laura decker. she arrived on the caribbean island of st. martin about a year and a day after she set sail. decker is only 16 years and four months old, six months younger than the previous record setter. a little wild and dangerous out there. though she is the unofficial record holder, guiness world records and the speed records council says they will not verify the claim. they say it's an effort now to discourage dangerous attempts by children. they get younger and younger. the excitement, the viral stuff, people trying to get that attention gets young kids to try things. that's life threatening. >> exactly. i don't think i would send my kids out. not yet. 4:56 right now. >> still ahead on "today in the bay," good-bye to the latest round of storms, get out of here. but they certainly left their mark. how an oakland neighborhood is

cleaning up. >> for all of your news, weather and traffic updates check us out on facebook.

>> new this morning san jose police getting ready to answer questions about a deadly officer-involved shooting. >> reporter: the rain may be tapering off later today but it is still a factor this morning and so is the wind. i'm christie smith. i'll have that story coming up in a live report. >> people all over the world and here in the bay area celebrating the new lunar year. >> impressive. a live look outside right now. that is the golden gate bridge, some splashes of rain. drive safely. it's monday, january 23rd. this is "today in the bay."