>> can sheriff ross mirkarimi get a fair trial in san francisco? his attorney doesn't think so. that and jury selection continue today. i'm christie smith. i'll have the story coming up. >> a report on the infamous pepper spray incident at uc davis hits a snag. why campus police officer is delaying its release. >> and israel's president continues his bay area visit with a speech at a synagogue. what his audience hopes to hear. >> a live look outside, beautiful bay bridge. looks like the camera is shaking in the wind. on this tuesday, march 6, this is "today in the bay."

>> good morning everybody. 4:30. i'm marla tellez in for jon kelley. >> i'm laura garcia-cannon. lots to get. to let's check the forecast. good morning, christina. >> good morning. we have showers on the radar this morning. for the most part they are north of the north bay. throughout the next couple of hours the front will slide to the south. a bigger issue in the weather department will be the gusty winds that are already picking up. especially for the higher elevations. you want to keep that in mind if you drive a high-profile vehicle to work. though it's early mike has an area that could slow you down in san mateo. >> that's right. there is an accident. this is not necessarily weather related but there are slick roadways out there. we have a five-car accident. minor injuries for northbound 101, now we have two lanes open, that changed from one lane a few minutes ago. the third north of 92.

for a look at the san mateo bridge, the other father, look at the camera shaking, and on the right the sign we can't make out because of the water. there is an accident northbound. they are warning for the slowing. two lanes open. back to you. >> thank you, mike. >> this morning jury selection resumes in the domestic abuse case against san francisco sheriff ross mirkarimi. >> the defense has been dealt a setback with the judge's decision to allow an ex-girlfriend to testify about what she says was past abuse. christie smith is live where mirkarimi's lawyers are now demanding a change of venue. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. yes, that's pretty much what's going on today. another long day of jury selection, right now they are down to 134 potential jurors. but all of that seems to be taking a back seat to some of the other things that are going on. as you said, a judge ruled that ross mirkarimi's ex-girlfriend can now testify at the trial. and his attorney is now

requesting a change of venue saying pretrial publicity make it difficult to get a fair and impartial jury in the city. after starting the process last week, the court has already dismissed 54 potential jurors from the case. mirkarimi faces domestic violence related charges for allegedly bruising his wife elian that lopez during an alleged incident on new year's day. he has pleaded not guilty and she has since said there was no abuse and this whole thing may be politically motivated. the charges were brought after a neighbor shot a videotape of a very tearful lopez describing that alleged incident of abuse. prosecutors asked the judge to allow mirkarimi's ex-girlfriend to testify about four alleged incidents of apuce. the judge did not rule yet on the change of venue request. jury selection resumes in the city at 9:00.

reporting live in san francisco, christie smith, "today in the bay." >> what started out as an investigation into stolen ipads is turning into one of the biggest drug busts. federal agents along palo alto police busted a giant meth lab. more than 750 pounds of meth worth $34 million, three people who may also have ties to mexican drug traffickers are under arrest. they face numerous drug and child endangerment charges. there were two children in the apartment and that has neighbors upset. >> how you could put kids in that kind of situation is mind boggling. >> less than 12 feet from where the methamphetamine was stored, and where the methamphetamine was not only being stored but converted. >> palo alto police stumbled onto the drug find after following the gps of a stolen ipad.

if convicted the three suspects could face 30 years in prison. >> a full house is expected at the city council meeting over pension reform. the council is set to vote on the wording of a measure for the june ballot. an investigation found the mayor using inflated estimates of the pension obligations for the coming years. it comes one day after seven california lawmakers asked for a state audit of the city's finances. mayor chuck reed calls the lawmakers' demands politically motivated but says he would not object to an audit. >> student protesters are facing trespassing charges this morning. last night at the state capitol for refusing to leave the rotunda. they were among thousands in sacramento protesting the rising cost of higher education. >> what would you say to those who say this is not an effective

way to accomplish your goals? >> i would like to see what their alternatives are because i think this is pretty effective. >> they are learning how to make politics work. because there are so many people that are not being eowe their needs are not met. >> 68 people were charged with trespassing. the governor says his june ballot initiative would address the demands for more education funding. >> report on the uc davis pepper spray incident has been delayed. one of the officers in the now viral video is seeking a court order barring the release of the report which was supposed to happen today. the delayed report is a result of months of investigation. the findings were to be posted on the website along with recommendations to improve policies at the school. in a statement the school chancellor said she was disappointed with the delay and hopes it will be brief. there was still an internal investigation going on into the officers' actions.

>> one of three groups trying to recall oakland mayor jean quan is calling it quits. the group says it has run out of money to pay canvassers to gather the needed signatures. a second group says it will continue to gather 20 signatures by july. 20,000 signatures by july. recall and restore says it will work with that campaign. >> today, new ways to hike your fares. passengers will be able to sound off on three proposals. the first would raise fares by 5 cents, the second would hike fares between the east bay and san francisco by 10 cents. the third, which would stick with inflation-based fare hikes, b.a.r.t. says fare hikes are necessary because it's facing a $7 billion shortfall for capital improvements including new rail cars.

>> 4:37. tight security sin place for tonight's speech by shimon peres. a crowd of more than 2,000 will attend including leaders from several faiths. many are concerned about with israel's future as tensions rise over iran's nuclear program. >> when there's already war in the region and the threat of iran gaining nuclear capabilities, this is a time when people from across the religious and ethnic spectrum in the bay area are eager to hear and to meet president perez. >> president perez will spend time at facebook meeting mark zuckerberg and staging an online discussion. he is building ties for his own version of the silicon valley in israel. >> good morning to you. it's 4:38. we're noticing on our drive in a little sprinkles out and about. yeah. let's collect the forecast with

meteorologist christina loren. >> hey, guys. we are still in winter. this is the only winter-like day we're going to see all week long so break out the sweaters. you might need that umbrella especially in the north bay. for the next few hours we have a weak disturbance that's going to move through, providing a little bit of moisture. exactly as you ladies described, light sprinkles and mist. the bigger component from the storm will be the gusty winds we expect to develop right after sun rise. and those winds will pick up as we head throughout the afternoon so you want to keep that in mind especially if you drive a high-profile vehicle headed over our bridges throughout the bay. sunnyvale, 50 this morning in san jose, radar's mostly dry at this point. we take you to the north, you see the showers are coming down between eureka to ft. bragg. maybe getting our first showers up in the north bay. throughout the morning hours the whole thing clears out of here by 7:00, 8:00. after our window for rain showers closes, and then the gates open up when it comes to heavy wind.

all day long. relentless wind but at least six to eight hours. we could see power outages. we'll talk more about this, i'll let you know what's to come. big changes in the seven-day forecast. that's in my next report. let's check the drive. improvement in san mateo? >> there is a slight improvement. i've seen chp crews leaving the scene. northbound 101, third avenue, we still have two lanes blocked. the two left lanes get by the scene of the accident involving five cars. the reports are they are hook up the last. minor injuries. this is a major impact on the freeway. fortunately the light volume only slowing past third avenue and north of the highway 92 interchange. a sigalert until they clear those. chp starting to move from the scene. no updates when they have the lanes open. for the san mateo bridge and the bay bridge, no problems across the bridge as far as incidents, but let me get you a live shot of the oakland coliseum camera.

shaking in the wind as well. gusty conditions, coming up through the east bay hills and the misty conditions could be an issue. may be slick roads. back to you. >> thanks. about about 4:41. most californians were not happy about the new restrictions on cell phone use while driving but new information released suggests those laws are in fact working. a new study says traffic deaths due to hand held cell phone use dropped since the state imcompleted the ban. a researcher looked into state crash records two years before the law was enacted, and two years after. overall traffic deaths declined 22% while hand held cell phone driver deaths declined by 47%. >> republican presidential candidates make their final arguments as super tuesday voting begins. >> hundreds of delegates are at stake with no clear leader in some states. we'll get a preview coming up next.

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>> welcome back. a good tuesday morning to you. what a beautiful luminous moon

out there this morning. hoping to have a nice day on tap. we'll check the forecast with miss loren coming up. >> we can get a clear front-runner in the republican race for president as 11 states hold primaries or caucuses. tracie potts is in columbus, ohio, the most competitive of today's state races. >> reporter: both top candidates mitt romney and rick santorum spent the last day of campaign in ohio. >> we have been all over the state from a to z, akron to zanesville. >> reporter: showing an unenthusiastic republican electorate. >> i don't think the republicans have a viable candidate. >> reporter: romney insists he is winning last minute voters here. >> i keep hearing people tell me they were undecided and now decided to join wisconsin. >> it's gut check time. who wants it the most. what do you say. >> reporter: rick santorum has a 2-point edge in ohio, a virtual

tie. last night he focused on romney's flip-flop on contraception coverage. >> he will be the weakest candidate we could possibly put forward on the most important issue of today. >> reporter: santorum's leading polls in tennessee. newt gingrich hopes to win delegates there and says romney must. >> figure out how to win the south. >> reporter: he is running ads promising $2.50 gas. ron paul is focused on today's caucus states, alaska, north dakota and idaho. tracie potts, nbc news, columbus, ohio. >> 4:46. yahoo! is making big changes and that could mean major layoffs. the blog on the website all things cites anonymous sources

saying a massive restructuring is in the works which could include significant layoffs. in a statement the company says, quote, our leadership is engaged in a process that will generate significant strategic change at yahoo!. final decisions have not yet been made at this point. >> zenga is apparently in san francisco. the gaming company has filed papers to buy its headquarters for $228 million. it reached a deal with the building's owner and paid $25 million deposit. the company moved in last year as it began building its work force. it leases about 65% of the building. >> wall street is off to a shaking start. for a check we turn to jackie deangelis. good morning. >> good morning. the futures are lower again after stocks gave up ground on monday but closing off the worst levels. reasons for concern 18 report on

the nation's sector as an employment component dropped. the asian and european markets are in the red. the dow fell, the nasdaq lose twog 5 and the s&p 500 slipping 5 points to 1364. a new report is raising concerns about the rising debt loads of college students and graduates. more than a quarter of the 37 million student loan borrowers past due balances of 30 days or more. this counts people making payments, not still in school or given special permission to postpone payments. scholastic is making a leap. the company developed an app which includes about 1300 children's books so the big red dog and ready freddy will be available. interactive stories as well as a virtual book shelf. a test version is available for

teachers and families who buy through book club. back over to you. >> technology rules the world. >> good old scholastic. i want to check the forecast with christina loren. >> as the kids are getting ready to go to school you might want to go ahead with the ponytail and tell your young boys to hold onto their hats. we're talking about a wind event. we're talking about with gusts in excess of 55 miles per hour. we're talking about some very, very strong winds pumping through the bay. the reason for the windy conditions is a cold front. it's moving through right now. we're still on the warm side so temperatures are holding on to the 50s. we're only going to see a 5-degree climb throughout the day as the cold air ushers in very, very cold conditions for at least the first part of the day. we'll start to get a little sunshine for the second half of the day once the wind moves in and clears out the clouds. still we're going to have a cold

air mass that takes one day to mix out. you can see the showers are starting to move to the south. still they are north of santa rosa. throughout the morning we'll have a light slight window for showers between the hours of probably 5:00 a.m. and about 9:00 a.m. after that it's going to start to get windy and future cast shows you that. the high end of the key, the pink and the red, windy conditions, not just throughout the east bay, right at the coast. even along the peninsula. you continue that for you, the winds at the strongest at 2:00 p.m. if you have loose objects in the yard, you want ta tie them down and then tonight the situation will improve. like i said, we're going to see winds battering local trees for at least six hours relentlessly. some of the weaker limbs could come down. we're watching for power outages. we'll have the latest throughout the day. once we lose the chance for shower, we'll talk about the weekend. a little more of a change, maybe showers in parts of the bay area. i'll tell you where coming up. back to you guys.

>> thank you. it's 4:50. social networking is starting to look more unfriendly. researchers found the number of facebook users who unfriend other members jumped to 63% last year. more women than men decided to end online relationships. nearly 70% of women hit the unfriend button which is 10% higher than men. >> 4:51. it was her key to independence but this morning a quadriplegic woman's special van is gone, stolen from her driveway. here is her plea for help, next. >> we're looking at 580 out of the wind farms, definitely going to produce power today. a smooth drive for 580. i'll give you the update on the sigalert coming up. [ female announcer ] with swiffer wetjet,

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>> good morning. it is 4:54. return it no questions asked. that's the plea from a woman who had her life line stolen from her driveway. thieves took her specialized wheelchair equipped van. without it kristin has no way to get around. she says her brother noticed it missing sunday morning. inside was her manual wheelchair

and school books. >> busting my butt trying to get a van, trying to get anything i needed in life. i had to bust my butt from the time i had an accident till now. >> she became a quadriplegic two years ago after she rolled her car. she is now going to school to become a math teacher. her father bought her the van only two months ago. >> the 49ers are one step closer to getting their new stadium. a judge ruled voters will not weigh in on the financial plan. opponents of the project argued $850 million in bank loans was too risky for the city. a judge sided with the 49ers' attorney saying financing agreements are not subject to voter approval. construction is expected to start this summer. the new stadium could be ready for the 2014 season. >> mike is working on an incident on the peninsula. let's check in. how is it looking? >> much better but we have a

warning. first we have the earlier sigalert. earlier because all lanes of northbound 101 have cleared. the five-car accident, minor injuries but nothing major. it has cleared. there were flares on the scene. then we have a new report about a big rig swerving to avoid some flares. the incident says the flares caused the big rig to swerve. i don't think the flares did anything. we'll look to the san mateo bridge. flares on the road are a concern because the high winds could blow them around. no big effect and the sign is turned off. >> thank you. it's 4:56 now. milk's favorite cookie is turning 100. >> the oreo has come a long way. it was first sold march 6, 1912 to a grocer in hoboken, new jersey. now more than 95 million cookies ever sold every day.

no one knows exactly how the name oreo came to be but each has 90 ridges and takes 59 minutes to make. kraft food says 84% of men eat them whole, 41% of women pull the cookie apart. >> the double stuff. still ahead on "today in the bay," taking a number. key decisions on pension reform and how much money will be short in coming years. >> israel's president hoping to make more friends today. why he's visiting facebook.

>> reporter: saving the city of san jose millions of dollars a year, pension reform takes center stage at city hall. i'll have that coming up. >> an oakland teenager appears in court for murdering his