new this morning, the search for human remains at what appears to be a mass grave in san aquin county is coming to a close. we'll tell you what crews are doing today. >> reporter: and the bay bridge closure is a go this weekend, so b.a.r.t. is expanding service to help youetsa around. i'm christie smith. i'll have that story in a live report. plus, the bay area cit fixing up foreclosed homes to sell at a discount price. and we give you a live look up in san francisco. that is the palace of fine arts. the weekend getting closer. it is thursday, february 16th, "today in the bay."

from nbc bay area, this is "today in the bay." good morning, everyone, moments before 4:31. lots to get to this morning, let's get to the forecast. >> good friday eve morning to you. this thursday will be another stellar day. we do have to get through cold conditions first, but plenty of sunshine and those warming "downsloping northerly winds will be the story for today. we've got rain in the forecast for your presidents' day weekend and we'll tell you how much we're expecting. but let's find out about your drive on this thursday morning with mike. >> we'll take you for live looks out there, but let's look at the golden gate bridge, it's moving smoothly right now. roadways a lot drier than yesterday and not a problem though construction going on on the north side of the bridge on the marin side. let's look at the san mateo bridge and as traffic moves smoothly we're talking about

construction that is set for the bay bridge. the san mateo bridge one of your roadways if you are getting from the east bay to the peninsula. and b.a.r.t. has planned for extra service, what do you have for them today, christie? >> reporter: good morning to you. we know at this point the westbound direction of the bay bridge is going to be closed this presidents' day weekend, if you need a plan "b," what b.a.r.t. has done is called the media down here to downtown oakland and they're going to be talking about what they're offering. what starts with 24-hour b.a.r.t. service that is going to run friday through sunday, and monday they're going back to regular hours for required maintenance, but 14 stations will be open during the overnight service for presidents' day weekend. basically they spread them out all over the system, the 14 stations that will remain open. now, in the event that work on the westbound lanes of the bridge were to get delayed,

b.a.r.t. is saying they may be able to extend the 24-hour service. b.a.r.t. says they have about 370,000 riders during commute day which is about the same as the bay bridge and a b.a.r.t. spokesperson tells me that their overnight service is something they do more as a community service in the situations because really when they offer 24-hour service, they tell me they only get about 3,000 riders overnight. reporting live in oakland, christie smith, "today in the bay." one final grisly task for searchers in san joaquin county where 1,000 bone fragments have been unered eunearthed in a mas grave. digging has been completed near the town of linden the so-called dumping ground identified by the speed freak killer wesley shermantine, many people that live in this area are hoping that the discovery will bring some closure for their loved ones. >> there's nothing to go on.

there are no leads, so there's no case to move forward with, and so families are left just simply not knowing. >> authorities also found shoes, purses, and jewelry in that well. the remains being sent to the richmond crime lab for identification. it is 4:34 right now. an off-duty san jose police officer is being credited for nabbing a trio of bank robbers. michael nas spotted three men running in south san jose. the information led to a s.w.a.t. standoff in salinas. the three men were arrested after a two-hour standoff. he left the san jose police department last year during layoffs. he's now in the process of being reinstated. looks like it's back to the negotiating table. pg&e and san bruno leaders are going to talk today. and san bruno wants money above

the physical cost to the community. pg&e has set up a fund for the people touched by the explosion. president obama will be in the bay area in just a few hours. the president is waking up in los angeles this morning where he'll be attending a campaign event. he was in hollywood for the first leg of a three-day west coast fund-raiser. george clooney, james bellucci and the foo fighters attended. the president will attend three events starting at the san francisco intercontinental hotel and the nob hill center. michael test says the menu includes homemade porter and chicken with wild mushrooms and a homemade dessert.

he said being asked to cook for the president was quite a surprise. >> somebody putting together the dinner asked if i would be interested in it's a once in a lifetime experience. reverend al green will kick off the event. the president knows that the bay area has no shortage of techies and he'll tap them for the upcoming campaign. president obama is apparently opening a new kind of campaign office in san francisco. the "san francisco chronicle" says instead of cold calling voters the tech volunteers helped develop item for the president's website and will possibly develop new campaign apps. the technology field office believed to be the first of its kind for a presidential campaign. it's 4 :36. a piece of the american dream may be closer for many families in the south bay. the city of san jose is promoting a program to fix up

and sell foreclosed homes. san jose used federal grant money to have contractors take care of everything from new roofs to energy efficient appliances. >> we all know how hard it to pull money out of your pocket to fix your roof or to fix your furnace and if you've just bought a home, you know, sometimes it's almost impossible to try to come up with money to fix a roof. >> depending on your income, the city will give you 10% to 20% of the home's purchase price. san jose's housing department will have an open house to sunday. for more information about the program head to our website nbcbayarea.com. 4:37 right now as we creep closer to the weekend, let's find out what is happening out right now at the weather center with christina. >> it's a comfortable 73 degrees right here in the weather center. outside, though, another story. so, you'll leave the comfort of your home only to find temperatures just about 5 degrees above freezing in places like gilroy, so bundle up this morning, but you want to dress in layers.

today's one of those days where as we head into noon as you're breaking for lunch, 60, 64 in noon in napa, and 61 in san jose and 62 in antioch. we'll see one of the warmest days we've had of the year so far with 70s on your temperature map for today. 65 is the forecasted high for redwood city, and 64 for fremont and fairfield and gilroy, yes, 70 degrees for you. and the same for morgan hill, a three-day holiday and you will be able to get outdoors. first, do we have problems on this thursday morning, mike? >> we have a number of incidents but no major issues. this is construction and unusual. this is southbound 101, the marsh road on ramp on the pe nine sue la is chopes losed for construction and there's a construction crew past willow. that's in the roadway but not causing any slowdowns on the

southbound side. so we'll follow the traffic south into the south bay with a smooth drive as well. the speed sensors, of course, in the northbound direction, about 57 in the middle on 280 we saw yellow there. i'll check on that but no incidents reported on the system there. right here past the coliseum, the nimitz does have a disabled vehicle reported northbound side with the taillights but up around market street sounds like it's out of the lane but a nervous driver waiting for roadside assistance and use caution in the area. i think oit it's on the side of the road, but i'll update you. people who lost their homes for foreclosure have new rules to file a grievance. why the city council could begin an ethics investigation in to mayor chuck reed. mitt romney is trying to fend off a surge by rick santorum, we'll have the

details. for all your weather and traffic updates search for us on facebook. roads nice and smooth.n,niincehs we'll keep you posted. ce

this is "today in the bay." welcome back, everyone, on this thursday morning. that is at san jose state is a statue of tommy smith and john

carlo from the 1968 summer olympic games when they were standing solidifying with black power on their minds. but tommy smith likes to point out it wasn't about black power it was about human rights. so, making a point to say we should all band together. a nice statue on a wonderful day. it's 4:43. a bay area school district is stepping in to help a teacher and former student find a bone marrow match. two bone marrow drives will be held in pleasanton, the first is today from 2:00 to 6:00 at moore elementary. a simple cheek swab might be a lifesaver. conley is suffering from lympho lymphoma. and the balls in the city council's court after an investigation into the pension projects. the city says it cannot take on an ethics complaint for alleged

misrepresentation of pension costs. the elections commission voted yesterday to receive to the complaint to the city council. >> so, if anybody is going to look at it, it's got to be the council. i think the feeling was this is a significant issue without making any judgments on the facts, it's a significant issue and the council ought to have the opportunity to decide if they want to look into it or not. >> the city council must now determine if it wants to pursue an investigation. general motors among companies getting ready to release its earnings, for details on that and for the rest of the news before the bell, we turn to cnbc headquarters. >> good morning, thanks so much. we did just see gm numbers hit the table and we'll get to them. overall the market is lower this morning. the futures are coming up a little bit from the low they hit early on for us on the east coast, but monitoring headlines out of europe. and investors are awaiting the key release of unemployment and housing data.

last month's jobless claims and housing starts will be released at 8:30. asian markets were lower overnight and european markets in the red. a lot of earnings today. a big wave starting with gm, the automaker reporting that it made 39 cents a share on $38 billion of revenue in the last quarter. not quite what analysts expected, though, they expected it to be the lowest quarter of profit on record for the company and it came in slightly below that per share. we have new data on the foreclosure front, it's still on the rise, new filings were up 3% in january over the previous month. one in every of 24 u.s. homes had a foreclosure filing on it last month. but there's good news, new foreclosures are down 20% since january of last year and yesterday federal banking officials extended a deadline for homeowner foreclosure review. that could help more than 4 million americans check their foreclosure cases for errors. that's what we have at cnbc for

you today. back over to you. >> it is 4:45 right now as we creep closer to the weekend, it looks like a nice day and a decent start to the weekend. it's a three-day weekend for many out there, that's the good news. we'll get pretty good weather all three days. we have rain chances two out of the three, but they're very slim and as we head through the weekend you can still get outdoors. right now nice clear start from the coast all the way through your inland cities. we are mostly clear at this point. we might see a little bit of the fog, the tule fog creep in from the central valley and concord and livermore might drop off with visibility. 49 in fairfield, 37 in concord this morning. good morning to you in san francisco. 53 degrees there. as we head throughout the afternoon warmer than yesterday and that's because we're going to see the downsloping dry winds warm us up as they pump from land to sea. and this morning we've got pretty strong gusts out there so you could get caught from time to time especially over the

bridges in your high profile vehicle, so take it easy out there. but the offshore flow is the story for the day. as we head throughout the afternoon, high pressure in the great basin driving the winds offshore. beautiful, clear conditions out there. we just had rain pass through, so you can breathe in that air quality. we're still in the good range. 64 degrees in fremont today. 67 in san jose. we'll see a few 70s in places like i'd say morgan hilarity on, fairfield even reaching 67 degrees later on just a gorgeous thursday ahead for us. as we head throughout the weekend things start to change a little bit, but not until sunday and monday, and the temperatures come down to the 50s. a few showers for presidents' day, but they are pesky showers, nothing heavy or that will keep you indoors and the best chance is late sunday to early monday. monday afternoon looking pretty good for outdoor plans. back to you guys. >> christina, thank you very much. the fight for michigan is on. rick santorum surging in the polls right now, but keep in

mind mitt romney has deep roots in the state. as "today in the bay's" reports, santorum and romney are neck and neck. >> reporter: mitt romney and rick santorum are in michigan. the tv ads are getting fierce. >> the attack machine is back on full throttle. >> rick santorum, big spender, washington insider. >> reporter: romney's dad was governor here, but that was over 40 years ago. >> i am 46. i was probably in diapers. >> reporter: michigan's governor is expected to endorse romney today. but will that be enough to replicate his win here four years ago even though he opposes bailout? santorum's leading the latest michigan pollpolls. >> there will be people that

make more. there will be people that make less. >> reporter: for romney and santorum, experts think a win in michigan will come down to money. >> they'll debate taxes and spending and how that goes one-on-one is going to determine i think who wins the race. >> reporter: in the meantime, president obama's fund-raising in california today and facing tough questions from hollywood about anti-piracy legislation that failed on capitol hill. we've also learned that rick santorum is asking homeland security for secret service protection. that has to be approved by congress. no word on when it might happen, tracie potts, nbc news, washington. fans of whitney houston can take part in her funeral. how you can see it coming up. the annoying telemarketer calls may soon be a thing of the past. and palo alto high may get national publicity at the knicks game. you know who that is. >> spike lee, all right. we're looking at 880 driving

through fremont. further up in oakland chp's heading over there to check out the disabled vehicle i talked about and an accident heading towards the eastshore freeway. that report's ahead.

welcome back, everyone. a live shot over san francisco.

looking beautiful this morning. it's a nice start. the weather not too cool this morning. christina lorne will tell us exactly what it will be like. fans worldwide may not get to say good-bye to whitney houston in person, but they'll get to watch the private funeral. a camera will be set up at saturday's ceremony in newark, new jersey, so the funeral can be streamed live on the internet. the funeral is invitation only at the request of houston's family. it will be held at the new hope baptist church where houston sang as a child. if you'd like to see the funeral online go to livestream.com. you know the annoying robo-calls. good news, they may be going away. the fcc has approved tougher rules. it gives consumers more protection to auto dial calls to the home phone lines. the new rules require

telemarketers to get written consent, even if the consumer has not included their phone number on the do not call registry. there are exceptions including the political pitches and calls from the nonprofits. a blast from jeremy lin's past will be at the new york knicks game. famed knicks fan spike lee will be in the stands wearing lin's old palo alto high school jersey. it started when lin's former high school basketball coach did an interview with a new york radio station, and he said his mission was to get lee to wear lin's high school jersey. he called the station and said he'd wear it friday night. the coach plans to be at sunday's game where he'll get to sit court side, pretty proud. meantime, the warriors admitting they made a mistake letting jeremy lin go. larry riley told the bay area news group yesterday he never saw jeremy lin as a starter on a

winning nba team, only figured him to be a backup. yeah, riley concedes he's not a fluke and he'll have a career in the nba but that no one could have predicted an outcome like this except maybe lin which is a great example to kids everywhere, hey, you just go for it. you keep going. >> and he's so humble, and best story in the nba. knicks on a seven-game winning streak. let's check out the traffic on the roads, mike inouye, he's our franchise player. >> i was pulled over but they couldn't prove i was good. we do have an accident to report, a noninjury accident. it sounds like a car traveling westbound on highway 4 and past franklin canyon golf course. they ran into something, possibly a tailpipe from another car. while no car has reported missing that, this car did hit that and the accident is on the shoulder. also in the area eastbound 80 passing highway 4 construction going on there.

overnight roadwork and it's opposite the main commute and opposite any commute before 5:00. but it's there as you are heading through hercules that's where the carquinez bridge, and eastbound highway 4 your typical construction going on there for another few minutes and westbound 61 shows no problems at the "l" street sensor. a smooth drive over the bridge and towards concord and pittsburg. this is one of the unusual honors for the celebrities, the duke and duchess of cambridge soon to be a set of barbie dolls. mattel making william and kate royal dolls. the set of dolls will be released in april to coincide with, of course, the royals' first anniversary. the gift set will cost $100. >> the royal ken really kind of captured his image. >> had the nice earrings on kate. a bay area hospital admits it accidentally made some

patient information public online. we'll have details next. and amazing video this morning of a shuttle bus hitting a pedestrian. we'll tell you how this happened and what happened to the individual coming up next. and for all your news, weather, traffic updates check us onut on facebook just search nbc bay area news.

new this morning, new surprising information about the deadly prison fire in central america. good morning, we'll tell you what we're learning about the prisoners coming up. plus people in one bay area city pushing a new ballot measures to raise the minimum wage by $2. a live look outside. port of oakland this morning. we've got a look at your full forecast on this thursday, february 16th. this is "today in the bay." from nbc bay area, this is "today in the bay."