analysts think. >> investigators looking to a third possible burial spot for the victims of the speed freak killers. details coming up. >> reporter: trying to find who would attack a classroom with racial slurs, i'm bob redell, the task facing mount pleasant high in the south bay coming up. >> we'll give you a live look at some of the traffic slowing in the south bay. this is a 280/17 interchange. we'll check your commute with mike in a minute. on this fat tuesday, february 21st, this is "today in the bay." >> good morning. thanks for being with us. i'm marla tellez in for laura garcia-cannon. >> i'm jon kelley. we check with christina loren. not only are we celebrating fat tuesday as we like to do, lots of dans out there, we're also talking about spectacular weather. >> they can be distracting.

>> i like them. >> me too. makes the time go faster. everything you need to do outdoors will be more pleasant. staying dry and warm. you can give your heater a break. as you head back to work on this abbreviated work week, temperatures coming home from work today in the 70s in many cities. we'll tell you which might be breaking records and when the rain returns. >> good morning. folks, we had that holiday christina is referring to yesterday was a holiday for a lot of folks so a burst of traffic on the roadways. week looking at the san mateo bridge. a workout this weekend as well. you know the bay bridge opened early and we had a smooth flow across the bay as well as 92, no major problems right now. we'll get a live look at the connecting area, oakland, 880, look at all of the lights. party going on for 880 although all speeds close to the limit. we'll show you some slow spots coming up. >> mike, thanks. >> if you are feeling that pain

at the pump you are not alone. gas prices are on the rise right now. we're averaging paying more than 4 bucks per gallon. christie smith is live in oakland with why we will not see relief any time soon. good morning, christie. >> reporter: good morning to you, jon and marla. hegenburger road is under construction so it's not that easy to get into that gas station across the street. or this one that we're standing out. fences up, detour signs but both of these are popular because gas is under $4 a gallon. so drivers find their way in no matter what. around the corner on hagenburger road also this morning gas is more in line with the average at the shell station, $4.05 a gallon, very close to aaa prices for oakland, san jose and san francisco now. energy analysts say it's a couple of things going on. there is tension in the middle east, increased demand, refineries are closing and no

surprise, drivers not happy. >> well, a little bit crazy. i mean i just logged in my gas now and two weeks ago i was paying 24 cents less, so i mean, right now it's not even a holiday -- it's past the holiday weekend and it's like -- i mean, just crazy. >> reporter: this might make you feel better about what you're paying to fill up. this is by my facebook friend and what he paid to fill up his pickup truck. analysts think the prices will continue to climb but for now they are not seeing them go to $5 a gallon. christie smith, "today in the bay." >> new this morning a new twist to a gruesome search. a convicted serial killer has revealed the location of a third burial site. wesley shermantine has been leading police to victims of his 15-year crime spree with loren

herzog. more than 1,000 bones have been recovered from an abandoned well in linden. investigators were searching for a second site identified by shermantine when he revealed a third. he says herzog dumped a body there not far from the other sites. no word when or if investigators will search for it. >> 6:04 now. in hayward police searching for a domestic violence suspect who was accidentally released after a psychiatric evaluation. officers confronted 32-year-old jose salias hernandez at his ex-girlfriend's home saturday night. during the negotiations he cut his throat with a large kitchen knife and was trying to stab himself in the chest. police say hernandez is 5'8", 150 to pounds and he has a lot of bandages around his neck. anybody with information on hernandez is asked to call hayward police. >> 6:04. students at one san jose high school will return from the long

weekend, but one classroom will be closed off. a target of vandals with messages so offensive we can't show some of them to you. bob is live at mount pleasant high where crews worked quickly to clean up all of the graffiti. good morning. >> reporter: yes, it has been wiped up and painted over. mount pleasant high is trying to find out who was responsible for attacking one of their classrooms with hate messages. you're looking at video from inside the room. you can see that someone used a black marker, references to hitler and racial slurs on the door and walls. the school allowed students to write good-bye messages on the wall since the classroom is about to be demolished but they never meant for it to be taken this far. >> i'm proud of our community and for how we uphold the dignity of every culture and every person, so all of this

vandalism, we washed it away almost immediately. >> reporter: one of the members of the board of the school district. the district says that if it was a student who is behind this, he or she could be suspended, even expelled. a non-student, they are going to have to deal with san jose police. rob redell, "today in the bay." >> petaluma police dealing with their own graffiti vandals, finding gang signs and ethnic slurs at more than 30 locations. police right now asking anybody who has information on this to call petaluma police. >> expect a good opening on wall street this morning thanks to a bail-out deal for greece. the ministers struck a deal. greece is riddled with debt. $172 billion deal aims to cut their debt to 1 too 1% of its gdp by 2020. without the deal there was a

good chance the country would have gone bankrupt. what this means for wall street coming up. >> two people still recovering from major irinjuries after a deadly crash. this is an update to news yesterday. the chp suspects the driver was just going too fast when his suv hit a curve and then flipped several times on the capitol expressway off ramp. that's at highway 101, that was about 5:00 a.m. yesterday. at least two passengers were ejected. one died. the chp says there were eight people in the suv and it is not clear at this point if any were wearing their seat belts. >> the pilot involved in a collision with a helicopter is now telling his story. >> there was a big bang, obviously. but i had no idea. what it was. didn't really think about scary, thought about flying the plane. >> ronald was flying south of

the municipal airport when his plane clipped something. he didn't know what happened until he was on solid ground. >> i didn't even know it was a helicopter. i was told later. >> the woman flying that is an experienced commercial pilot working on earning nighttime flying hours. she would not talk to the media but she saw a small plane and heard the warning from air traffic control. the collision caused her to crash into a field. she was able to walk away. >> very, very lucky. both of those drivers. it's 6:08. time to go over to the nbc bay area weather center and check in with meteorologist christina loren. >> good tuesday morning. a lot of people headed back to work this morning. we had showers at this time yesterday and this morning some fog is starting to develop with all of that remnant moisture

hanging around. but it really is having a tough time. you saw from the picture of the golden gate bridge things are mostly clear. we're dropping off in visibility up in the north bay. everywhere else looking good. 48 degrees in sunnyvale. 50 in san mateo. and 50 up in fairfield. headed toward the 70s, near record warmth today, tomorrow, in fact it continues through your friday. then we get some showers. by noon we're enjoying 62 degrees. 59 degrees at the coast. by 4:00 p.m. up to 65 degrees inland. sanl jose, the forecasted high is 69 degrees, we keep on climbing as we take you through your wednesday. i'll show you your seven-day forecast in my next report. as well as if you celebrate that in san francisco that's all coming up. first let's talk to mike about the drive. >> we're looking at 19 minutes to the bay bridge toll plaza. though metering lights are not on we have the headlights

backing up. that's our focus, not your eyes though it's tough to wake up in the morning. we're looking at a flow through the vicinity. all of the routes heading over to the toll plaza are fine. weekend work has given you a gradual serve there off of the metering lights. we've had no problems so far. a day and a half earlier than expected. a lot of folks saiding there so take that note. antioch, no issues than a lot of traffic so a lot of slowing toward summerville. we're also looking at a slower drive westbound 580 through livermore, all the way through is abeale and passing down to the dublin interchange. 40s all the way throughout the next ten minutes. back to you. >> the altamont pass a typical hot spot. still ahead on "today in the bay," a man gets a face of

pepper spray. we'll show you what led up to this. >> negative campaign ads, nothing new. setting a new standard according to one report. >> for the latest news traffic and weather and good conversation come find us on facebook. n search nbc bay area. -that's my cereal.

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>> welcome back. we give you a live look outside at san jose. that is the 280, traffic not too bad that the time of the morning. mike inouye will be along to fill you in on how all of your roadways out to work look right now. it's 6:13. >> rising gas prices are all of the talk on the presidential campaign trail and rick santorum is pointing the finger at president obama. >> this president is doing

everything he can to hurt energy production in this country. >> while santorum goes after the president, the other candidates are going after santorum. mitt romney is criticizing the former senator for spending too much in washington. >> when republicans go to washington and spend like democrats they are going to have a lot of spending. that's what we've seen over the last several years. >> michigan's primary election is now just a week away. >> have you been thinking the candidates have been hitting each other hard with negative ads? you are correct. "the washington post" reporting in 2008, 6% of campaign ads in the gop primaries were attacks on other candidates. that has jumped monumentally up to more than 50% this time around. most of those ads are paid for by political action committees. >> it is 6:14. let's get to the forecast now with meteorologist christina loren. looking good on this fat tuesday. >> we've got a great looking

forecast. not just today t next few days. we had showers yesterday as you probably know. we're running a huge deficit in terms of our average rainfall totals for this year. we made up a little yesterday. we'll continue to do so this weekend with another round of rain. between now and then temperatures keep on climbing. 48 in sunnyvale, 50 in san jose. as we head throughout the day high pressure is now completely in control of our pattern. it's going to continuously drive the winds from land to sea, they warm up along the way. so breezy. 70s and more tomorrow we'll hold on to the warmth through friday. then things start to change this weekend. we'll talk about that. this is what we've got today. 67 in places like concord and livermore. 66 fremont, and 67 degrees on the peninsula today. that's redwood city. san francisco tonight, you can believe there's going to be a

lot of people though it's not new orleans. cool and clear conditions in the city by the bay. you'll need a jacket. 74 for thursday. saturday, sunday we get a few more clouds and cool you down a little bit. hey, not too bad, holding on to the 60s. let's check your drive with mike. >> folks in the south bay we're looking at speeds showing us the speed limit. 58. so down a couple of miles per hour. that means 87 starting to see slowing up into downtown. that will continue to build. 280, let me show you this coming up the middle of the screen, the headlights coming up towards that interchange and a good volume of traffic filling in those lanes. no major slowing. this is an early indicator showing you south bay traffic will be here. you'll see some slowing. 880 takes you north. not a problem.

but here a good volume building. right here at the top of the screen there was an earlier issue, an accident around 66. there is the 66 avenue overcrossing. we see slowing, there may have been activity clearing to the side. looks like no lanes are blocked. we'll track slowing, right now past the coliseum, back to the maps, what else is going on. south down toward the san mateo bridge. another incident reported a disabled vehicle not causing enough to show up. a little showing for the castro valley y, a blip over the san mateo hills but not a big deal and 101 and 28. smooth between the city and the south bay. back to you. >> 6:17. a teacher will be in court this morning. 61-year-old mark berndt will be arraigned, accused of committing acts against 23 children between

2005 and 2012. mark berndt has been in jail on bail since january. >> nothing short of a crazy scene as relatives stormed. hundreds were waiting for day, the crowd grew angry when they saw bodies laid out on the street. that prison fire killed more than 350 inmates. doctors at this point have only identified 32 bodies so far. only half of those have been turned over to family. >> a sense of normalcy is returning to a city in new dezand. construction is picking up at christ church, homes, and a new sports stadium are being built. for the first time in months many people there are going back to work. tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary of the 6.3 quake,

184 people died in that tragedy. >> a man facing charges after a scuffle at disneyland. >> there are kids here. there are kids here. >> that's a mess out there. youtube video capturing the fight near the tower of terror ride on saturday. this is at disney's california adventure. the man who was pepper sprayed only punched at least two disney employees as he scrambled around on the floor. witnesses had to hold the man down until police arrived to arrest him. one park employee was taken to the hospital with minor injuries. at this point it's not exactly clear what caused that fight. >> he didn't enjoy the ride. >> you do. you like the tower? >> reporter: i love the tower of terror. you might be able to replace your auto insurance card with your smart phone. how that could work coming up.

>> a look inside those foxconn factories. >> a live look at the golden gate bridge. pretty smooth for a fat tuesday. traffic not filling up the roads yet. mike will explain all in minutes. it's such a tough... yeah. the spectrum is from lg. and the r2 unit is from... from naboo. naboo. yeah. the spectrum's got a 4.5" screen, fits nicely in your hand. r2-d2 needs a starfighter. starfighter ?

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>> welcome back. it's now 6:22. how about an apology for an

overcharge in a peninsula city. they are planning to send letters out in san carlos. the trash hauler says it added 10% to the latest bill instead of the 5% that was recently approved by the city. the letter will explain the error and inform customers they will receive a credit on their next bill. >> the california lawmaker gets his way the first thing you'll reach for when you get pull owed ver could be your smart phone. legislation would amend law requiring drivers to carry proof of insurance in cars and instead insurers could send the documents to your smart phone, ipad or blackberry. one thing wouldn't change your ticket handed to you on paper. >> the fox conn plants will be the focus of a special on another network. scott mcgrew joins us, a lot of reporters wanted into that factory. >> some chinese newspaper reporters have gotten inside. that's how we heard of the spate

of suicides. and chinese television got close after a plant exploded killing three people. this will be the first time a major tour of the plant will be conducted by an american news crew. abc will feature the show on its nightline program. there is some fuss because abc is so closely related to apple. the ceo of disney, abc's owner sits on apple's board. the reporter in the piece acknowledges the relationship but then goes on to say it doesn't matter why abc was chosen because he wrote the story in the way he saw fit. >> other news, a deadline set by congress for the white house to hand over all of the solyndra documents expires today. the whithouse did turn over a number of documents over the weekend. some of the same politicians from the house committee on energy and commerce have sent a letter to the federal trade commission asking the ftc to

launch an investigation into google's privacy practices. washington's been taking a strong interest in lately in silicon valley and privacy after a series of missteps by several companies almost as if they are daring washington to crack down. also we should see the dow cross 13,000 this morning in what, about five minutes. after that good news you were talking about earlier about with greece. back to you. >> sounds good. thank you. >> 6:25. still to come, students at one san jose school will return to a school cleaned up after vandals sprayed racist graffiti on. find out what the school plans to do next. >> and brace yourself, gas prices topping $5 a gallon could be just months away. a live report on this coming up. >> from near-record warmth to a round of rain, we have a lot to talk about in the weather department. starting today the warm-up is on. i'll take you through your forecast coming right up. >> drivers on 580 slow as you approach the dublin interchange.

you might get a break caused by an incident further back. we'll show you coming up. >> all is smooth as you can see from this live look at the golden gate bridge toll plaza.wh

>> reporter: 20 cents up in two weeks. how high will gas prices go? i'll tell you what energy analysts think coming up in a live report. >> a bounty hunter says a serial killer has revealed a third burial ground for victims in san joaquin county. details coming up. >> we're live in the south bay, one high school trying to find out who attacked one of their classrooms with swastikas, and other hate messages. that coming up. >> a live look outside at downtown san jose as the sun starts to peek over the horizon. ladies and gentlemen, no matter

your choice of beverage, toast up your glass. it's fat tuesday, february 21, "today in the bay." >> of course he wants us to toast. he's the only one with a cup around here. good morning. it's just before 6:30. i'm marla tellez in for laura garcia-cannon. >> i'm jon kelley. let's check in with meteorologist christina loren to find out how sweet it's going to be. >> you know we're going to see really comfortable conditions, some of the warmest weather that we've had in months because we're talking about the mid 70s and 80s as we transition the next couple of days. today we'll be in record warmth territory. but this morning we're watching cold conditions and fog develop. you want to take it easy in the north bay. not much of a factor at this point and we're not expecting the fog to last long. full on sunshine by about 8:30. i'll tell you how warm it's

expected to be. let's check your drive with mike inouye. >> we're going to take you out to 580, the livermore valley where an accident at north flynn road, that's on the right side of the screen where you see that red. that's approaching the scene. that may provide benefit for the folks traveling through livermore and pleasanton for the westbound direction. we have the slowing but we're staving off some of the traffic. south of here on sunol we're seeing the build, we have a car fire. actually, a truck tire fire reported south of this shot. we should see the taillights moving to the left. there are low clouds but not a problem for visibility. just that truck tire fire as reported so far the truck itself is okay. >> thank you, mike. it is 6:30. bay area gas prices are accelerating quickly. a gallon will cost more than $4 a gallon on average this morning. christie smith is live in oakland with why we won't see

the price drop soon. good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you, marla. it's not just the gas prices that have people so upset but how fast they are going up. 20 cents in the past two weeks. so, stations like this one in oakland awfully popular because the gas is less than $4 a gallon. at the shell station around the corner on hagan burger more in line. it's $4.05 a gallon. energy analysts say a couple of things going on. tension in the middle east, increased demand with some refineries shutting down. one commuter told me what he does, he tries to get off the beaten path. >> especially if you're trying to get gas off the freeway, it's at least 25, 30 cents more expensive. >> reporter: according to aaa, prices are about $4.03 in oakla

oakland, $4.03 in san jose and think that it will continue to go up unfortunately but at least for now they are predicting that it won't hit $5 a gallon. christie smith, "today in the bay." >> this morning new information in that gruesome search for victims of the so called speed freak serial killers, the death row inmate wesley shermantine says there is a third site where his partner dump add body during their crime spree. shermantine pointed investigators to a well at an abandoned cattle ranch where more than 1,000 human bones were found. searchers were still checking a second well when he made the latest claim that there is a third well. no word on whether the investigators will stakt on this tip. >> the mother of a berkeley man accused of beating a 67-year-old man to death says he is a product of a broken mental health care system. the oakland tribune reports the mother of 23-year-old daniel jordan dewitt says he suffers

from paranoid schizophrenia and was not properly treated. saturday my deswit accused of beating a homeowner during a confrontation. the police response time is also being questioned in this case and officers weren't immediately dispatched to the call of an intruder at the home because they were dealing with occupy protesters. >> 6:33 now. the search continuing this morning for a robbery suspect in oakland who managed to get away when his alleged accomplice was shot by officers. on sunday police stopped a car on 62nd avenue as part of a robbery investigation. the passenger allegedly ran, one of the officers shot him saying he saw him carrying a gun. the man is recovering at the hospital. the other suspect did manage to get away. the officer is on administrative leave pending an investigation. >> students are returning to a san jose high school tagged with racial slurs and words of hate.

some of the images are so offensive we can't even show them to you. bob redell is live at mount pleasant high where crews worked quickly to cover up all of that graffiti. bob, good morning. >> good morning to you. we understand that it has been wiped off and painted over. you know the school didn't have a problem with graffiti in the classroom. administrators were letting students write good-bye messages on the walls of this classroom because it's about to be demolished. but they didn't intend for this to turn out like this. you're looking in the classroom here at mount pleasant high. it was tagless hate messages. someone used a black marker to write references to hitler and racial slurs. students hope whoever did this gets caught soon. >> shouldn't just do it period. i don't know why that person wrote that, that hurts a lot of people. >> reporter: the district tells us that if it was a student

behind this, they do face suspension, possibly even expulsion. if it wasn't a student, then they have a meeting with sfpd. >> this one has been a piece of palo alto history for decades and tonight the city council will decide the future of the downtown post office. the building is expected to be sold as part of the plan by the usps to close. a smaller post office will be put in to replace it. the old branch will be put up for sale in may. the public is invited to tonight's meeting to discuss the sale of the building. >> a san francisco neighborhood known for music is bringing a bit of the big easy to town all for fat tuesday. the district will host block parties to celebrate. there will be free concerts, processional and all of the food you can eat before lent. some events including a ball are charging an entrance fee.

the party takes place between eddy street and gary boulevard starting at 5:00 tonight. >> sound likes a nonstop party. >> hopefully the weather will hold up. >> christina loren can tell us. what's it going to be like? >> it's going to be nice. i'll get to that forecast in a minute let's talk about what's happening throughout right now. it's kind of cold, 43 in concord, 46 in oakland. but not too bad. 50 in san jose is really kind of a mild way to start out a tuesday morning. throughout the afternoon we're starting out mild. we're going to see a lot of sunshine. and we have these downsloping northerly winds that will warm us up. so we're talking about the 60s by noon. by the bay and inland. up to 59 degrees at the coast at nooned so. we'll see plenty of 70-degree weather on your map. we'll talk about that first. the fat tuesday forecast, 57 degrees tonight at 7:00 p.m.

you need more than a mask and beads to keep you warm. it will be on the cool side. let's check the drive with mike inouye. >> i hope it was the cool side you were referring to. looking to this side of the bay. 101. we have a disabled vehicle clearing from the lanes southbound 101, right around willow road. it was in lanes, should be cleared shortly and we have a smooth drive rejerring so far both directions passing the dumbarton bridge. we'll look also out to the roadways across the bay and see some slowing at the bottom of the screen. southbound 880 past that san mateo bridge, we have speeds in the 40s. up to the top of the screen you see that 238 northbound slowing. we have a live shot to show what you things are like past the coliseum. we have not seen lanes blocked by the earlier incident. sounds like the off ramp is also

open as well as our next shot. we end with this coming toward the bay bridge. slowing from the overcrossing. >> somebody turn on the lights out there. >> a little sunshine. >> no kidding. just about 6:38. coming up on "today in the bay," a work of art is hitting the auction block. you might scream when you hear how much it's expected to sell for. >> polls showing santorum leading mitt romney. will his comments cut into the lead.

>> there is just one week to go right now before the michigan primary, and gop presidential hopeful rick santorum still leading home state candidate mitt romney in those polls. tracie potts is live in washington right now with more on whether santorum's recent eyebrow raising comments can help the romney campaign. good morning, tracie. >> reporter: it's interesting when you take a look at the very latest polls, i looked at some this morning from sunday and monday. romney may be closing in on santorum in his home state. santorum had the lead in the last couple of weeks, in fact, in the last week specifically. these last two polls show them either tied or romney up by two. that's what's within the margin of error. we'll have to see if there is a trend. santorum and the comment over the weekend about president obama's phony theology has been on the defensive trying to

explain that. he was talking about environmentalists, not christianity but not everyone is buying that. he'd rather talk about the fact that he's a front-runner now. meantime, the other big issue in this campaign is money. who's got the money to go the distance. we have new numbers on fundraising, romney brought in $6.5 million. gingrich not doing well in michigan but brought in $5.5 million and the super pacs, the groups that support the candidates, romney and gingrich brought in more than the candidates themselves. a lot of money there. >> there is, tracie potts, thank you for the report. >> coming up, 15 minutes of uninterrupted news including gas prices on the rise and they are not expected to stop until they are above $5 a gallon. ouch. a live report is coming up. feed me! saving you money -- now, that's progressive. call or click today.

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>> welcome back. the time is 6:44. time to check back in on another lovely day in the neighborhood. meteorologist christina loren is here making sure her gear is working so you can hear her loud and clear. >> got my belt ready to go. draw. somebody has to keep this clicker handy. we're looking pretty good this morning. if you've got to get to work we have fog especially through the interior valleys. above the fog i wanted to show you this first, a beautiful clear sky. tons of sunshine and temperatures climbing into the 70s. let's take you below the clouds now and show you. we do have thick pockets out there. although not obstructing your view, you might encounter deep pockets of fog in the interior valleys. throughout the day your temperatures are starting out mild in many cities. we're starting out so warm, high pressure is going to burn that

fog off quickly, temperatures are going to climb courtesy of warm winds. for today sunny and mild. tomorrow warmer, mid 70s return. that's something we haven't seen for a while. comfortable conditions in the city by the bay. 58 degrees at noon, 4:00 p.m., a few more clouds but 60 degrees. a little choppy on the bay today with that breeze. 68 in morgan hill. about 65 in danville and 68 degrees in walnut creek. comfortable by the water. 66 in san francisco. as we head throughout this afternoon we're going to get warmer by tomorrow and hold on to mid-70s thursday through friday. if you missed the rain we've got that sunday into monday. >> we're getting slower still as folks head westbound 580 into livermore. in livermore itself just around northland road reports of a car fire that moved to the shoulder. it's providing a distraction but it's not causing things to be so

bad out of the altamont pass. 25 minute drive is a hefty one. you get a break through livermore and pleasanton because some folks held up behind the car fire. blew pleasanton slows, i showed you this shot. i'm talking traffic through the same area. we're looking at a smooth flow though the earlier truck with the tire on fire still reported southbound side here around vargas over where we can't see it through the trees. we don't see appreciable slowing but it will be in spots and over into fremont. back down to the south bay, a smooth drive off 680. 101 north of there is slowed by a new accident around de la cruz. still blocking one lane. a couple of minutes ago. a slower drive northbound from capitol expressway up to the area. 87 and 85, look at that typical slowing past winchester and up through 85 out of los gatos. we'll get another look, no problems after the earlier

disabled truck. of course slowing for antioch, we have slowing here and then of course bay point another accident at willow pass road. >> thank you, mike. 6:47. the next time you head to the gas station the gas pumps will likely be supporting price tags of more than $4 a gallon. christie smith is live in oakland with why there is no end in sight. good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you, marla. this gas station we're at isn't even all that easy to get into and that's because haganburger road is under construction so there are fences up and a detour but still it's the popular place to be because the gas is a couple cents cheaper than the average. so this is the popular spot on the block. gas has gone up about 20 cents a gallon in the past two weeks. what's behind this spike? it's a couple of things. tension in the middle east, increased demand, some refineries are shutting down and it all adds up to a very

expensive gas. in oakland the average price for a gallon of regular gas, $4.03. $4.08 in san francisco, $4.03 in san jose. the expectation is that it will probably continue to rise but at least for now they are thinking it probably won't hit $5 a gallon. reporting live in oakland, christie smith, "today in the bay." >> a convicted serial killer now leading investigators to a third possible burial site. wesley shermantine has been leading police to victims of his 15-year crime spree along with partner loren herzog. more than 1,000 bones have been discovered. investigators were searching for a second sight officered when he revealed a third potential site sunday. he says herzog dumped another body there not far from the other sights. no word on when or if investigators will search for. >> police are searching for a domestic violence suspect who

was accidentally released after a psychiatric evaluation. officers confronted 32-year-old jose salias hernandez at his ex-girlfriend's home. during negotiations he cut his throat with a large kitchen knife, and tried to stab himself in the chest. police say hernandez is about 5'8", 150 to pounds and has many bandages and suturing around his neck. any one with information is asked to call hayward police. >> tonight the oakland council considering the high price of keeping its police department under its own control and avoid falling into federal hands. the department has been under the watch of federal monitors part of a settlement in a high profile police abuse case. now that work load increased for the monitors after the judge ruled the department has not implemented reforms. tonight the council will vote on a $100,000 pay raise for the seven-person monitoring team.

and if approved it would bring their two-year droort almost $2 million. this morning students at one san jose high school are returned from a very long weekend but one classroom will be closed off. it became the target of vandals who covered it with hateful and obscene messages. bob is live at mount pleasant high where crews worked quickly to try to cover up all of the graffiti. good morning. >> reporter: right now the high school is trying to figure out who is responsible for tagging one of its classrooms with these hate messages. you can see in this video from inside that someone used a black marker to scrawl several swastikas, references to hitler and racial slurs on the doors and walls. the school allowed students to write good-bye messages since it's about to be demolished but they never meant for it to be taken this far. >> proud of our community and how we uphold the dignity of

every culture and every person. so all of this vandalism, we washed it away. almost immediately. >> reporter: that was the district, and they are also telling us that if a student was behind this they face suspension, possibly exspuls. if it was not a student, then they are likely going to have a meeting with san jose's finest. >> 6:52. we're finding out more about a dangerous vandalism spree in livermore. several homeowners are working to try to find the person or person who is launched large rocks at homes over the weekend. there were nine incidents in all. one of the rocks smashed through a bedroom window. >> if they were going out and had fun they could have killed my daughter. they could have done a lot of damage that they don't realize just being idiots. >> take a look at this video.

police hope someone will recognize the car in this video. if you have information about the weekend vandalism spree you are asked to call police. >> the time is 6:52. the "today" show is next. ann curry is showing what they are working on. >> good morning. coming up on a tuesday morning on "today" gas prices rising at a record pace with no end in sight. could we hit $5 a gallon before memorial day weekend. also emotional testimony at the murder trial of a man accused of killing his wife during a honeymoon diving trip. what the victim's best friend told the court about her conversations with the suspect. plus, an unusual custody case, a live interview with a woman who claims she was tricked into giving away a baby with a man on line. he turned out to be married and is fighting to adopt the child with his wife. we're going to look at the spring's hottest color trend,

neon, how to make it work for you when we get started on a tuesday morning here on "today." >> 6:53. a famous work of art is going up for auction in may and could bring in at least $80 million. one of four versions of "the scream" will hit the block in may. it's the only version that has a private owner. the pastel belongs to a businessman. two oil paintings of the scream and the regular version are all in the museum. >> health agencies are considering anybody born between 1945 and 1965 should take a blood test for hepatitis c. two thirds of people with the disease are in this age group. more than 3 million are affected and many more unaware of it. hepatitis c could eventually lead to liver cancer. there are promising drugs now

which could cure more people than in years past. >> freshmen at a college could win four years of tuition. the business school in connecticut is setting up a challenge. they want incoming freshmen to win them over with a creative business idea. four will receive $120,000 in full tuition. the dean was a former executive for mastercard before heading that department. >> brian wilson looking forward to a healthy 2012 season. wilson says he played most of 2011 with a bunch of nagging injuries, even before a serious elbow injury knocked him out of all but six of the final 56 games. wilson said yes, he is throwing at about 75%. as he continues to come back from the elbow industry. at this point he is pain free. the a's adding manny ramirez. they signed him for $500,000.

don't expect to see manny on opening day. he has to serve a 50-game suspension for violating the drug policy. by the time he is able to take the field, ramirez will be 40 years old. >> jeremy lin and the knicks get a day off today. the knicks lost to the nets last night. lin with 21 points, nooifrn assists, seven rebounds. he was outplayed by deron williams who scored 28 points. after williams said he had this game circled on his calendar. all of the lin sanity started back on february 4. it hasn't even been a mot. >> selling cameras to b.a.r.t. for the uniforms, scott, this is big news for b.a.r.t. >> b.a.r.t. police have been the focus of several investigations where cameras would have been a dig help figuring out who did what when. you see it, similar to cameras

worn by san jose police. arizona based taylor makes those and says b.a.r.t. will be the first agency to try them out. >> b.a.r.t., the first agency in the country that has ordered these for every officer. and within 30, 45 days, we'll have them live. >> we had contacted b.a.r.t. about this. we'll hammer out that description. >> scott, thank you. oakland city council will consider the higher price of keeping the police department from falling under federal control. the department has been under the watch since back in 2003 part of a settle. in a high profile police abuse case. now that has increased for the monitors after a good ruled they have not impeople willed reforms. the council will vote on a

$100,000 pay raise for the seven-person monitoring team and if approved it would bring their two-year contract to 1.8 million. >> jobs are being combined at least temporarily. the city council is expected to appoint police chief ron davis as interim city manager tonight. davis has served as chief of police for seven years. he has not said if he will resign to apply for the city manager job. east palo alto's manage ser retiring at the beginning of march. >> 6:58. christina, one final check of your weather. >> good morning. it's cold out there, grab a jacket or a sweater with temperatures in the 50s. 52 by the bay at 8:00. up to 60 by noon. much warmer inland. many on the 70s. we'll let you know if you broke any records.

it's fat tuesday. the city by the bay. it's 7:00 p.m., cool and clear tonight. if you will be out there celebrating. thas the week we keep on climbing, temperatures mild, and then we get some rain sunday into monday. let's get a rinl check of traffic. >> the south bay traffic is starting to build. 101 slows from before you get to capital expressway. we're in the 20s and 30s. still reported blocking the left lane. it's going to be a problem. we already see storing for 87 and 85. continuing past up in toward the rest of the south bay. we're seeing that build for 280 but it's gradual for that exchange past 880. right around the dumbarton bridge. no incidents reported. i'll send something out if there is anything big to report ther