roads are closed. firefighters having a tough time. christie smith has been live on the scene. she's got the latest for us. >> reporter: i can tell you firefighters are still pouring water on this apartment building from the outside. i mean, this was a massive fire. they tell me when they arrived the flames were about 30 feet high in the sky. even right now there's a giant plume of smoke coming from the apartment building, so quite a scene. i can tell that you the red cross just got here. we have chopper pictures. this is a three-story apartment building burning about four blocks from uc-berkeley. firefighters tell me they really have to take a defensive stance staying on the outside spraying water because basically the roof is gone and they know now that a third floor has collapsed. the good news is that they tell me first they know everyone is out of the building. no reports of injuries this

morning either to firefighters or people who live here. three buildings also evacuated here in the neighborhood. berkeley police basically went door-to-door telling people to get out. also students, they went door-to-door on their own telling p people to get out. one girl i did speak with told me she was just able to get out with the clothes on her back. >> my other roommate is the one that woke us up and she said there was a fire because she saw firefighters outside so we just -- i went to make sure she was awake. and got out. we left everything. >> reporter: right now there are about 30 firefighters on scene. this is a two-alarm fire. there are a number of people who evacuated standing around in blankets and robes. students at uc-berkeley tell me it's midterms going on right now, in fact, one student tells

me she has a test coming up this morning and they think that may be a good thing because they tell me quite a few of these students were up even though this fire started at about 4:15 this morning. i can tell you the red cross just arrived here. as far as we know in the building there are about nine students apparently seven of them went with friends and the red cross is helping out at least two people but they are checking in making sure that they are taken care of. as far as the cause, firefighters say they still don't know. you can see they are pouring water on it, a plume of smoke. they want to work on that before a cause. live in berkeley, christie smith. >> no doubt the cleanup will take a while. it did close some streets in that area. we want to check on how traffic is impacted now. >> looking at the maps here, this is where it is.

in relation to the east shore freeway on the left, dwight way is closed where the apartment is located. it is closed between shattuck and ellsworth. it's a major roadway heading eastbound only though, ashby, the line to the south, that is still open as well as university avenue to the north which will take to you the campus, berkeley campus, that is still open as well but this will cause a stir as that plume of smoke will be visible. it's a couple of miles off the east shore freeway. we're look at another accident at san pab who avenue. i'll tell you about that coming up. at least the situation across the bridge is calmer than the last couple of days. >> great news when it comes to that effort in berkeley. winds are calm right about with across the board. we're starting to show you the map, we do have a sustained wind

speed about with 5 miles per hour but elsewhere winds relaxed. it's been blustery. temperatures as a result of losing the wind and the clear sky overhead have plummeted. we're at 32 degrees, freezing in santa rosa and fairfield. below freezing in gilroy and headed to the 70s. from near record cold to near record warmth in one day. i'll tell you when the rainy pattern develops. that's coming up. >> 6:04. a massive solar storm is battering the earth and it could disrupt power grids, satellite navigation and even plane routes. bob redell is live with what caused the storm and what it could mean for you. good morning. >> reporter: yeah, good morning to you, marla. so far no reports of disruptions. we know flights having to fly south of the north pole to avoid this solar storm, the largest in just over five years.

the scientists say don't worry about this. this is part of the sun's normal 11-year cycle. i want to show you images, taken by nasa solar observatory which was built here in the bay area. you can see these violent gyrations on the surface of the sun. scientists call this a mass ejection. when part of the sun blows off in this case sending a charged particles our way, scientists believe that the largest chunk arrives overnight and will be here for perhaps the next 24 hours. not only can it mess with electric grids, gps satellites, not the type of gps devices that you're using in our car on the way to work. here of the high accuracy gps. there are some flights who out of precaution so the plane

equipment doesn't get messed with are flying south of the north pole. typically the north pole is where you go. because of this they are seen as far south as michigan. reporting live in san jose, bob redell, "today in the bay." >> the northern lights are a sight to see. thank you, bob. tonight berkeley residents which get a chance to question the police chief about how they handled the death of a homeowner. peter secur died during a confrontation. the police response to a call for help was delayed because officers were tied up with an occupy protest. the first call from sekur's wife went to a non-emergency line, then to 911. police arrested daniel dewitt near the scene. tonight's meeting begins at 7:00 near the north brae community church. >> celebrating the life of

sandra cantu after he was killed by her neighbor. there were several events on what would have been her 11th birthday. police will hand out i.d. and dna kits so parents can keep a record. this is the second year the family held such an event aimed at teaching kids to be safe. she was killed by her neighbor. she is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. >> pacifica police have shot and killed a pit bull as it was attacking a dog. officers were called to a house on wednesday. the owner of the small corgi called 911 to report his dog was being attacked. the pit bull had the little dog by the neck. when it moved toward the officer he fired. the pit bull died. the corgi is recovering. >> bp is sued for shipping dirty

gasoline. the suit was filed by state regulator who claim the company did not meet the clean fuel standards for toxic and cancer causing compounds. about 85 million gallons was delivered between december 2008 and march 2009. that is enough fuel to run 170,000 cars for a year. the suit seeks unspecified damages. >> the new ipad hits stores next week. you don't have to buy the latest to benefit. >> i would encourage you, it's not how new it is but the concept of a tablet computer. so little notice when apple announced its newest iadd yesterday pass the fact that the company would drop the price by $100. ipad 2 is only 361 days old, so if you're wondering what all of the fuss is about on ipad, grab yourself an ipad 2.

certain apple watchers are taken by the fact that the company abandoned its naming scheme. you have the original ipad and they called that ipad. then ipad 2, then the new ipad they call ipad. not ipad 3 or hd. people will probably still call it the ipad 3. when apple introduced the touch screen they called it the itouch. apple never called it that. >> i'm spoiled. a friend of mine preordered the ipad 3 and i'm going to take over his ipad 2. >> there's the great handdown. on twitter i said -- somebody said hand down your old one to the kids and get new one. >> hey, i got a touch if anybody is interested. a mini. going old school here. let's check the forecast with meteorologist christina loren.

how are we looking? >> me and my razzor phone. it's cold this morning and you will be caught offguard if you're not ready. you can see why. it's so clear. we still have a vivid picture of that gorgeous moon. it's so clear that you can see the craters on the moon. those features that comprise the man on the moon. we usually have a lot of cloud cover. a lack of cloud cover making for a cold start this morning. especially for your -- the dense cold air sinks to the surface. temperatures are going to warm back up. high pressure moves in quickly. 63 degrees, by noon, 71 at 4:00 p.m. temperatures even warmer as we head through tomorrow. then everything changes, not just the weather. we want to remind you daylight saving time begins, turn the

chock ahead, on sunday we lose an hour of sleep but we gain an hour in the afternoon. we've got a change on the way. a lot of wet weather headed our way. i'll talk about that. if tirs let's check your drive. >> looking to the east shore freeway and the update on the accident at san pablo avenue. it's not causing major slogging. thursday lighter volume so you have a smooth 19 minutes off of the carquinez bridge. the closure of dwight way because of that apartment fire, a couple of alarms, smoke in the area and a hot of fire crews. keep that in mind. use ashby between shattuck and telegraph for the time being. slower drive up the incline to the upper deck. a couple of stalls have resulted in slower driving. the live shot and see how things are shaping up.

looks like the metering lights are turned on. back to you. >> thank you, mike. >> 6:11. still ahead on "today in the bay," mike just mentioned it in the breaking news that we're following in workly. a live look from chopper. no one is hurt. we have a reporter on the ground. >> reporter: i'm stephanie chuang live in palo alto where police are still trying to figure out who is behind dozens of tire slashings. a live report coming up. [ female announcer ] what would you call an ordinary breakfast pastry

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a tough time tackling the flames here. the roof collapsed. the third floor collapsed. the best news is that everybody inside has made it out. no injuries to report. we'll check in with our reporter in a bit. >> one thing that helps, calm winds this morning. those buildings are so close. >> we're very lucky. it could have gotten out of control. that's not the case this morning. winds are calm, we still are showing you what we're working with in terms of winds. the highest wind speed is about 7 miles per hour sustained right now. and that's through the fairfield area. you're coming up and coming down when it comes to wind speed. nowhere above 10 miles per hour. that's the good news. throughout the morning hours, on the calm side. we'll pick up later on today. but not until this afternoon into the evening hours. this is what we're working with this morning. temperatures are cold because it is so clear out there this morning. the reason why it's so clear,

high pressure is moving in for today. let's show you what it looks like outside. this is the view that you get to drive to work with. yes, take a hook at that glorious moon. 6:15 this morning, about another hour of that glowing moon. if you're heading out the door grab your jacket. hey, glorious drive to work this mog. as we head throughout the morning temperatures on the cool side until about 10:00. then the warmth will kick in. temperatures in the 60s by noon today. we'll round out the day with 70s and an additional 5 degrees as we kick off friday. friday, 71 for today in morgan hill. 67 in pleasanton, across the bay, 67 degrees in san francisco, and we're looking pretty comfortable just about every day through sunday. but we're going to get more clouds and showers on sunday. if you are trying to make outdoor plans, a little bit warmer. then the pattern changes monday through wednesday, we've got a series of systems on the way to

the bay area. the first will ride to the north on monday. maybe a stray somehow tear the north bay. then we all get rain, the greater bay area getting soaked. over the course of tuesday, wednesday and thursday. so a major pattern change. a roller coaster change for us in the bay area. let's see how your drive is changing always at this time with mike inouye. >> more folks hit the road, also we have the metering lights that turned on so as a result traffic at the toll plaza a backup forms there. folks are held up at the toll plaza. that's a typical pattern there. we follow the fire in berkeley. the scene off dwight way. all of this smoke, this is visible for at least a good distance away as you approach the area around berkeley. these fire crews are affecting dwight way. back to the maps, it's a little bit south of the university as

well. this's the tower and the university of california berkeley. we have university avenue which will take you over to the university as well as ashby aft the scene. use ashby until this fire has cleared up. no major slowing down the east shore though you may still be able to barely see the smoke. here 20 minutes out of the altamont pass slowing to 49 to 50 this and showing over to the dublin interchange so 580 all the way to 680 even to the fors and 50s there. a smooth drive through castro valley. a nice flow of traffic. looking to the south bay, sunol and fremont, not a problem for 680. and northbound, showing a nice smooth flow with sensors. we should see slowing as the tully north on 101 and into downtown san jose. no sensor changes there. the lower bay shore, 101 cleared of all of the construction, now

on and off ramps and the freeway moving into the city. >> thank you, mike. palo alto police are beefing up patrols to try to stop a serial tire slasher. stephanie chuang joins us live with an update on this vandalism. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. now, this is vandals hitting the streets in palo alto twice in 48 hours. did it happen earlier this week. at a recent one on monday hit along east meadow drive, the cars struck and another monday night about a mile from here that was the latest report. the early sunday morning when there were dozens of tires slashed. vandals striking 51 parked cars all in a six-block stretch, northeast of highway 82. palo alto police say the vehicles parked closest to the sidewalk suffered the most damage. every tire slashed on those.

the damage, no estimates but easily in the tens of thousands of dollars. so far they do not have any suspect information. police said the department has planned to increase a trolls in the area. this is all going on as the city has experienced a rise in reported home burglaries also, so police say with all of these crimes the best way is to get witnesses and you can call in anonymous. stephanie chuang, "today in the bay." >> 6:20. coming up the u.s. surgeon general says she is shocked by a new report on teen smoking. >> good news on the jobs front and a possible trouble for pandora. -dad, why are you getting that? -that's my cereal.

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>> we continue to cover breaking news this morning. take a look at these live pictures over berkeley at dwight way between shattuck and ellsworth. the good news is everyone managed to get out quickly. but the tough news is firefighters had, in fighting this one, the third floor collapsed and they had to pull out of the building. it looks like right now all of that white smoke means that they have this fire out. no doubt investigators will be out there for most of the morning mopping up and trying to determine the cause of this fire. they believe it could be electrical. our own reporter christie smith has been live on the scene

gathering information for us. she talked to some of the students who actually managed to get out of the fire. we'll hear from them coming up. 6:23. >> the surgeon general says even she was shocked to find out how many teens are smoking in the u.s. a new report is coming out as the first on youth tobacco use since 1994. the report cites data that almost one in four high school seniors smoke cigarettes or use smokeless tobacco. one in three young adults under 26 also uses. the surgeon general is expected to call for additional state funding for anti-smoking programs. >> good news for bay area fishermen. expecting a much bigger catch for this year's salmon season. new data shows more than 800,000 chinook salmon can be found. salmon numbers have been climbing after several seasons were canceled. experts say tighter federal controls have helped increase

the population. salmon season officially begins next month. >> wells fargo looking to consolidate. there is a branch just about everywhere. >> in the safeway down the street from the other wellsfargo brand. at san francisco's wells fargo headquarters executives talking about a plan that would consolidate branches, bring the number down. the the problem was made worse in other cities because wells fargo bought wachovia and picked up that many more branches. tuesday we mentioned we were concerned about pandora, the online music service. shares in that company fell 26% wednesday after the company confirmed yes, it is paying far more for music and that's cutting into profit. it makes with $60 in advertising for every 1,000 listeners of its desk top music software, but and this is a big but, pandora makes

$20 per 1,000 listeners on mobile apps. what's happening to the desk top, no. this is a big threat for facebook as well. more are using face wook on their iphone and ipad. fewer on the desk top. that's an advertising issue. tomorrow the labor department releases the jobs report a week late due to the calendar. normally it comes on the first friday of the month. the unemployment rate is 8.3%. we've had several good months in a row so we're looking for pretty good numbers. >> thank you very much. 6:26. still to come on "today in the bay," more on the breaking news we've been following out of berkeley. fire crews on the scene more than two hours. we will have the latest in a live report and hear from some of the survivors. >> it's a weather day of extremes. beach weather by the day's end.

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>> it continues with breaking news we've been following all morning long for you. this is a scene of a two-alarm apartment fire that happened in berkeley. it broke out a little after 4:00 this morning. massive flames ripped through this apartment building. luckily all of the people inside managed to get out. firefighters had to pull out of the fire just to try to get a handle on it. christie smith is live on the scene. she's got more details including talking to some of the survivors who managed to get out. good morning. >> reporter: good morning to  you. very scary. we're more than two hours into

this and firefighters are still spraying water on this fire this morning from the outside. a major fire, a three-story apartment building near uc-berkeley on dwight way. huge flames this morning pouring out. some people telling us they were at least 30 feet high. i did get new video from one of the neighbors who says that he heard popping and cracking for about 20 minutes. then he looked outside and saw what were huge flames, orange and yellow from everywhere. this is on dwight way, four blocks from u krrk berkeley. started around 4:13. firefighters tell me everyone got out. two or three other buildings evacuated. a lot of people got out because the neighborhood is so smoky, firefighters as you said had to take a defensive stance. they stayed outside of the building saying that the roof and the third floor collapsed.

i soak with a man. >> 25 minutes, and then when the smell was coming very strong i left. i pulled the curtain and everything is like yellow and red and huge fire. i am a single dad with four kids, i said well, it's time to run. >> reporter: i wanted to say when we got here the smoke was black and it was just billowing up in the sky. it is getting lighter and lighter. looks to be a light gray which indicates they may be getting the upper hand here. the red cross is here helping out. i asked how many people need help, they don't have an exact number but there are at least nine people, some of them students from the building who are getting assistance this morning. i asked about a cause and they said at this point they are still battling the fire making sure it is out so they don't

really have an answer to that yet. i can tell you they will be here for some time. christie smith, "today in the bay." >> that cell phone video was amazing. >> now you see all of the smoke in the area, they closed down some roads. i want to check in with mike inouye. he's got details. even smoke can be a distraction. >> this is just south of the university of california, you see on the map, at the top you see it says berkeley, and the campus for cal. this is just south of that campus. a university avenue will still take threw from the east shore freeway without a problem. actually, you can use ashby to the south you can connect from shattuck to telegraph. christie smith was giving the report, that smoke emanating from the building near the dwight and ellsworth intersection will be an issue for local traffic. a slight reroute.

a little stir in the pot there. we'll watch the effects. so far none for highway 24 and certainly not for the east shore freeway. we have the metering lights on at the bay bridge. however, the wind is calmer and meteorologist christina loren will say it's probably helped with the fire fight. what's going on today? >> it's actually rather interesting. wind are calmest that they have been over the past 272 hours, it's a blustery week and we have calm conditions. one of the reasons why the dense cold air is able to settle to the surface and why we're freezing cold this morning from fairfield to santa rosa, even gilroy at 31, we're at 37 in oakland. we're headed toward near record warmth. a lot to talk with. a couple of storms next week, first we'll 2 back to you and today's other top stories. >> 6:33. san jose's finances will get a review by state auditors. lawmakers agreed to have the

joint legislative audit committee hook at the the books for the past three years on the heels of a report that found the mayor grossly exaggerated the city's pension fund costs to sell a reform to voters. the awe dill will look at the pension obligation to the budget. the audit will take four months to complete. but the pension reform initiative will still be on the ballot. >> the man who ran down a baseball fan near at&t park has pleaded guilty. andrew vargas admits hitting 9-year-old ryan while the boy walked with his family after a game last august. white was critically injured. in exchange for the guilty plea vargas will be required to perform community service and pay restitution. vargas was sentenced to a year in county jail but will get credit for time served and could be released as early as june. >> work it out yourself, a word from a judge.

the judge wants the two sides to come to an out-of-court settlement. the lawyers want the dodgers to pay $50 million for stowe's long term care. stowe was beaten in the dodger parking lot after a game. his lawyers have also file add civil suit and suit in the bankruptcy court against the dodgers. the civil case is on hold and attorneys for the dodgers want the bankruptcy court judge to throw out the claim. the judge put that decision off until march 21. >> the city of oakland is suing an occupy protester for allegedly vandalizing a city office during a protest. we have a look at the scene in november. vandals sprayed graffiti and smashed windows in several buildings in the downtown including an observe land police recruiting office. the city is now suing caesar aguirre for the damage to the which would withing. police officers said he saw him

break the window with a chair. >> the largest solar storm in five years is slamming earth shaking the magnetic field. as bob reports it could cause destruction to the power grid and communications. >> reporter: good morning. scientists believe that the worst of it arrived overnight and should dissipate in the next 24 hours. the only way we would notice if it were to have an effect on our power supply. so far no reports. this is what we're talking about. you're looking at images caught by the satellite observatory. it's the strongest in over five years. scientists call it a mass ejection when part of the sun's atmosphere blows off sending a cloudf charged particles our way at 4.5 million miles an hour. >> they average out to about

heaven-year solar cycle. we're getting up there. we're supposed to peak around late 2013, so you can expect more of these flares, more of these eruptions in the next year or two. >> reporter: it's from an interview with a nasa scientist that tells us not only can these mass ejections mess with our electrical grid, it can disrupt gps satellites. you wouldn't notice it on your car but surveyors who use gps for measurements might. and the storm is forcing some flights away from the north pole. the storm has one benefit. northern lights seen as far south as michigan. reporting live here in san jose, bob redell, "today in the bay." >> amazing to see those. >> 6:37. good morning to you. let's check the forecast. meteorologist christina loren, any northern lights in sight? >> no. unfortunately. if we were a little bit higher in latitude but not for us.

it's so clear out there we may have had a shot this morning. crystal clear start. we lost the wind, nothing mixing up our atmosphere so all of that cold air settles right to the surface. we're in the 30s even on the peninsula. something that we don't typically see. they 6 degrees in fact, 4 degrees above freezing. it's a cold start. 36 in sunnyvale, calm winds, mostly across the greater bay area. a sustained wind at 5 miles per hour. off shore winds are going to keep us warm but they will be calmer than they have been. as we do see the winds pick up a little we're only expecting the 5 to 10-mile-per-hour range. nothing heavy like we had over the past couple days. changes headed our way this weekend, not just when it comes to the weather. we don't want you to forget about daylight savings time. set that clock forward one hour

so. sun rise typically 6:30 right now your new sunrise will be 7:30. the sunset will now be 7:10 so an extra hour of daylight in the afternoon but that mean it's going to be dark in the morning. let's check the morning drive with mike. >> good morning. that's a good note as well. if you come up after the sun rises you mitt get that sun hitting you in your windshield so bring those sunglasses. right now, well, bring something while in the car. listen to the radio. antioch, we're seeing speeds in with 50s as well as through concord. out of the altamont pass, a 23-minute drive. for livermore the stretch in the 40s. where you see the yellow, but then we also have disabled vehicle that was cleared to the shoulder blocking one lane. more slowing headed to the area. a burst of traffic into pleasanton and sunol.

a live look outside, at the oakland 880 coliseum shot, we have a smooth flow away from us, southbound with the headlights. no major issues but south 880 slows past that san mateo bridge. no major drama. back to you. >> 6:40. coming up we're still following that breaking news of that apartment building far in berkeley. here is a live look. yes, the flames are burning. we'll check in with our christie smith when we come back. look! here she comes! ♪ she'll be comin' 'round the mountain when she comes... ♪ ♪ when she comes. ♪ it'll be spinning new chrome wheels when it comes. ♪

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>> 6:43 now. republican presidential race, make your picks for the nomination. mitt romney is a man to beat after super tuesday. brian mooar joins us live from washington. you think romney can hold onto the lead he's got in the south? >> reporter: yeah. law are, the numbers are on mitt romney's side. he has a sizable lead but he has to make a point in the southern states that he can win. a republican cannot win the white house without winning the south. the general election is a foregone conclusion that a lot of these states will go which ever way the party goes in terms of republicans. but this is a tough time for mitt romney. he has to make a stand.

newt gingrich will be on home turf, counting on a win in alabama and/or mississippi. if he doesn't, he's essentially toast at this point. that's why rick santorum's campaign is arguing that it is time for gingrich to get out of the way to let santorum take on romney one-on-one, santorum says that he can take the nomination and he can take on the president in the fall. but right now this is mitt romney's nomination to lose. he has a sizable lead. even after the somewhat embarrassing narrow win he had in ohio, he is the person who has a sizable he'd in terms of the delegates, his campaign is saying it would take, quote, an act of god for one of the other candidates to win at this point. to give you an idea, rick santorum would have to win two thirds of the delegates in every contest going forward to grab that nomination. >> we'll continue to watch. thank you very much. we'll also take you live to berk

hi again where sleeping students wake up to heavy smoke and sky high flames. firefighters still having a tough time putting this one out. the fire ripping through an apartment complex. >> high gas prices, the we'larl ta eke a look.yse. we'll take a look. could mean hundreds more in your wallet year after year. feed me! saving you money -- now, that's progressive. call or click today.

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>> welcome back everyone. we continue to follow breaking news all morning long for you. this is a two-alarm apartment fire over dwight way in berkeley. six units simply engulfed in flames as you can see from these live pictures. it continues to burn. christie smith is live at the scene. she's got details. they are having a tough time putting this one out. >> reporter: they sure are.

i just spoke with the deputy chief of the berkeley fire department. he says we're about 2 1/2 hours into this and this fire is still burning. i do have video this morning that i got from a neighbor who really shot incredible flames pouring from this three-story apartment building. everyone got out safely, fortunately. no injuries at all. but the third floor and the roof have collapsed. i got an update and they tell me that it actually may be more than that, the second floor looks like it sustained heavy damage too. this is about four blocks from uc-berkeley. some of the people affected are students. they tell me they were up, some studying for midterms. i just smoke with one of those students. >> for sure. we left everything as well. we're kind of like concerned about it spreading. >> did you have a chance to grab anything? >> not really. i put on my shoes and left.

i wanted to go back in. >> what did you see? >> a huge flame. it was overwhelming. >> reporter: i spoke with the red cross, they are out helping as well. they don't have an exact count of how many people need help. could be five to nine but they think that most people have gone on to stay with friends. one of the concerns right now, the deputy chief is telling me, the floors are so badly damaged from the fire that the walls are compromised and they are concerned that they might collapse either outward or inward. three buildings adjacent to this are evacuated. we see a lot of people standing around in blankets and robes waiting for word. at this point they haven't talked about a cause because the fire is still burning, so we'll keep an eye on this for you. if anything else develops we'll check back in. that's the story from here. live in berkeley, christie smith, "today in the bay." >> quickly i notice pg&e crews

behind you there. do you know if there are any power outages in the area? >> reporter: certainly that building that's burning, that one is out and i believe that the power may be affected to some of the adjacent buildings because the names, even though they may not have damaged the buildings, it was so hat so they are out working on that. we haven't gotten an update yet and seen them lift their trucks. one, onlily two others might be affected. gh thank you for your continuing coverage. >> again, this fire started at fourchon 15 so we're approaching the three-hour mark. certainly roads are closed in the area. a check of the commute with mike inouye. >> good morning. we heard from students and thank goodness they got out safe hi but a lot of midterms going on so a lot were up studying. this is south of the campus itself. the tower, i wanted to give you

a reference. dwight way is closed between shattuck avenue and ellsworth. you'll use ashby avenue. that's where you want to travel, then north to campus or use university avenue you can get over there. that is still open. this is not affecting access and 24 looks unaffected. smoke likely visible as well. looking to the east shore troy, speeds in the 50s through richmond. 25-minute drive from the carquinez bridge where the metering lights are on and the backup formed early this morning after 6:00 because of a couple of stalls there. we're looking through the castro valley y, and up to san leandro. southbound 880 slow approaching the san mateo wrij and down to the dumbarton bridge. no wind advisories like the hast

couple days. 101 north all the way to the arpt, 87 and 85 all showing their pattern for thursday, northbound showing into the 50s. we'll take you for a hook at the golden gate bridge. 101 from the north bay with a nice flow of traffic and no major issues including visibility. hey, bicyclists have a nice day. is that going the to hold up? >> no. that wind chill tactor. feeling more like 25 hitting you in the face. we're going to warm up. you can hit the beach with 73-degree weather. calm conditions for now. temperatures are very cold. take a look at this. we're at freezing in santa rosa. fairfield 1 degree above. elsewhere, we have the mid-30s along the peninsula. we're all headed toward the 70s, just about everywhere today. except for the coast. you'll have to wait till

tomorrow but even pacifica, half moon bay touching on 70 degrees. friday warmth and pressure takes control. today, though, not too shabby. 71 in morgan hill. you are high around 67 degrees in blackhawk and 68 in walnut creek. 65 or alameda. 67 in san francisco, and 70 degrees today in santa rosa. 75 tomorrow. so tomorrow will be the climax when it comes to warmth. temperatures heating up, down to 65 on saturday. clouds will increase the second half of the day. then we get showers on sunday. set that clock forward one hour. time change goes into effect this weekend. cool and cloudy monday. showers start tuesday, wednesday heavy periods of rain through thursday so. all of this sunshine we have out this, we're going to have to wait until that returns. back to you. >> we shall. thanks.

6:53. a serial tire slasher is on the loose as police continue a search to put an end to this vandalism. stephanie chuang joins us live with an update on the recent tire slashing. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. vandals hitting the quiet streets of palo alto twice in tour 8 hours. no suspect. police are trying to get tips. even though it happened earlier in the week. here along east meadow drive is where several cars parked on monday were targeted in the second string. the first happening early sunday morn between 2 chock and 7:00. shashing 51 parked cars, the tires, all in a six-block stretch. palo alto police say the vehicles arced closest to the sidewalk suffered the most damage. the exact costs we don't have

specific numbers but in the tens of thousands. live in palo alto, stephanie chuang. "today in the bay." >> 6:55. tonight berkeley residents get the chance to question the police chief about how the department handled the recent murder of an elderly homeowner who died on his property last month. the police response was delayed because officers were tied up with an occupy protest. the first call from the man's wife went to a non-emergency line, then to 911. police arrested daniel dewitt. the meeting starts at 7:30 at the north brae community church. >> oakland leaders taking a swing at keeping the city's three sports franchises from leaving town.

the warrior, raiders and a's are all being courted by other cities, in an effort to keep them the council has approved a $3.5 million to come up with a plan to redevelop the coliseum complex. the overhaul would include new stadium, hotel, shops and convention center. >> we believe that it could generate up to 32,000 jobs so it's something that everybody will have a stake in the city whether you're a sports fan or not. >> the city is using the last of its redevelopment funds to pay for that project. >> san francisco lawmakers are trying to come up with ways to keep families in town. figures show at least 5,000 children left the city between 2000 and 2010. a little more than 13% of people in san francisco are younger than 18. today the board of supervisors will look at ways to battle the urban fight. >> after 11 days police have found the family of twin sisters

found dead in their lake tahoe home. detectives say they found a first cousin and a second cousin of the late patricia and joan miller. the cousins had not heard from the sisters in years. the miller sisters grew up in san francisco but lived decades in south lake tahoe. officers found the sisters' bodies during a welfare check. it's likely they died of natural causes. the sisters were 73 years old. >> it is 6:57. the "today" show is next. ann curry shows us what's coming up. >> good morning. coming up on a thursday morning on "today" the biggest solar storm in five years hitting the earth this morning. it could be causing problems with everything from your cell phone to your airline flights. we'll get details. also ahead, a soccer mom with four kids accused of running a prostitution ring. we'll hear from her attorney and her shop friends coming up. also have you seen it.

chances are your teen has. this video that is wloing up on social media has more than 20 million hits on youtube alone, what is it all about? and kate middleton helps kick off the diamond jubilee tour. those stories and a special thursday whip to get you ready for spring when we get started here on "today." >> thank you, ann. a construction project in china is leaving many architects speechless. check this out. we have a time lapse of a 30-story hotel built in, get this, 15 days. just over two weeks. the clip racked up 5 million views. the project is part after massive building boom in china as people leave cities for the countryside. the urban population has grown by 400 million since 1990. >> who can we blame for sky high gas prices? in part china's break neck

growth. >> we saw it there, not sped up china is worried how quick hi they are growing. denand for energy drawing up our gas prices. the secretary of energy is on capitol hill testifying for the house energy and commerce committee. you may know them as the people giving president obama a tough time over solyndra but they also hold the purse strings. it's not cheer that chew can do anything about prices but expect tough questions. we say hello to our friends in san jose. back to you. >> thank you. thank you for joining us as well this morning. we'll continue to follow the breaking news that we've been covering all morning in berkeley where an apartment went up in flames. it's tough for firefighters to fight as now they are worried about the walls completely