trying to become more business friendly. the details coming up. that is a live look at the golden gate bridge, ready or not the rain is here. you can see the roads looking shiny, mike inouye says it will be slick brace yourselves. on this tuesday, march 13th, "today in the bay." good morning, everyone, it is straight up 6:00. >> good morning, everybody, i'm john kelly, we check in with christina. i like the sunshine, i dig the weather, but we need this rain. >> we do need this rain, something you haven't had to use, your umbrella. make sure you have it with you for the next seven days. significant rain chances every day. the front now draped across santa rosa pushing into marin county and san francisco, you're about 15 or 20 minutes away from steady rain. the front pushes out aej i'll

let you know which cities will get the rain. a whole other system, colder one on the way. first, let's check your drive with mike. >> you're talking about is definitely going to affect folks on their community. look in san rafael, watch rain for the area through 101. no accidents reported nor the north bay. you should slow the drive. to the south bay with 2280 comig toward us and the camera shakes here, the rain and wind two factors crossing bay. i'll show you the latest event. i'll get more details coming up. 6:01. we have developing news out of the east bay, a one alarm fire where a long list of cars has just burned up. christie smith is there live with all of the latest details. good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you, john. right now just around the corner

from where we're standing there's at least a half dozen residents standing around in their robes and blankets trying to figure out what was going on this morning while firefighters try to figure out how this started. i just spoke with a battalion chief and he says he thinks it started in the center of a car port where six cars burned overnight. this is in an apartment complex on adam street. i got cell phone video this morning from a neighbor who ran out and saw flames pouring from the garage area she told me. the residents ran right out. no one injured. the battalion chief says two units are damaged pretty bad and other has smoke damage. one woman told me it was a very scary wake-up call. >> all i know is i woke up about 4:00 and i was like, is something happening outside, didn't hear anything, i walked outside and that's when i asked the fireman what happened. man, we need you to step outside, there's a garage fire.

i was just like, appalled when i walked outside and seen all of this damage. >> now, firefighters tell me that the gas and electricity to the building is shut off this morning. so basically what that means is that 18 adults and about a half dozen kids are out of the building right now. he tells me that the red cross has been called in to help and they will be on scene. firefighters will for at least another hour. reporting live in oakland, christie smith, "today in the bay". >> animal lovers and their pets will rally in oakland to save a state law. the hayden law requires shelters to wait at least four to six days before euthanizing animals. governor jerry brown wants to roll back the requirements to 72 hours to save the state money. there will be a rally in support of the hayden law. in oakland this morning, county supervisors will consider a resolution to support the law today. well, another bay area tourist has sadly died while

vacationing out in hawaii. 58-year-old from sunnyvale was crossing a stream on saturday when she was swept out into the ocean. hikers in the area say recent rains have raised water levels and made trails extremely dangerous. >> there's no place for the rain to go so it's making the ocean very turbulent. when people try to cross these river pathways while hiking, it can be very, very dangerous. >> she was a spir it ooul speaker and in hawaii for the group's conference and she is the third person from the bay area to die while vacation s in hawaii in the past eight months. three san jose residents facing charges in the largest meth bust in u.s. history. they are heading back to court today. federal agents seized more than 750 pounds of meth work $34 million at an apartment earlier

this month. investigators say the suspects may have ties to mexican drug traffickers. the two men and one woman face numerous drug charges and being held on $2 million bail apiece. it is 6:04. five people will be arraigned later this month for their part in an occupy protest at u.c. berkeley. four students and one professor facing resisting arrest after a confrontation with police after the refusal to move tents. u.c. berkeley policed used batons to remove the protesters and arrested 39 people. the defendants accuse officers of using excessive force. the d a's office would not comment on exactly why only five protesters were charged. 6:05. san jose wants to make vacancy signs disappear downtown. stephanie joins us live with details of the new business friendly strategy. good morning. >> reporter: marla, good morning to you. here off santa clara between 6th

and 7th lies a building that used to house a grocery store. the city has been trying to get a fresh and easy market in here but it's taking an extremely long time because of the city's process when it comes to getting a permit to sell liquor. not good with a 25% vacancy rate in the city. tonight council members will take action on stream lining the process so it will cost businesses a lot less time and a lot less money when they go through that permitting process. council member whose district encompasses the downtown says they need to make it easier for businesses in tough times. >> once people are looking to invest again, what are the barriers? what we kept hearing is the process takes too long and we have too many rules to deal with. we need to clear the red tape. >> reporter: also on tonight's council agenda, changing another ordinance that reserves ground floor downtown space for retail use only. that has been preventing companies from renting them as

office space. council members will likely take up this issue in a week focusing on the liquor license issue tonight. but council members saying it just doesn't make any sense with so many vacancies in the city for either ordinance to stay the same. council member pushing to make the changes. he says his colleagues are on board. nitrate contamination spreading through california's heartland and it looks like it will get worse. the study says chemical fertilizers and manure are the main culprit here. about one in ten people in those areas rely on untreated ground water that may exceed nitrate standards. most of those people live in small farm worker communities, high levels of nitrates have been linked to reproductive disorders and to cancer. amtrak service is back to normal this morning less than 24 hours after a crash in south san

jose. it took more than seven hours for crews to repair the tracks along monterrey highway. around 11:00 yesterday morning, a train traveling from seattle to los angeles, hit a truck on the tracks. the engine was damaged but no one on the train was hurt. the truck's driver was taken to the hospital. no word on his condition. >> traffic in palo alto's busy university avenue area will be impact by seismic retrofit work. crews will be working at the dispatch center and the dispatch center will be moved from the city hall basement to the city's mobile emergency operations center. that will force the city to close one block on forest avenue between ramona and bryant streets from friday all the way to monday. >> the rain has started to fall in the bay area. let's check the forecast with meteorologist christina loren. >> it started and boy we're going to see at least six or

seven days with significant rainfall. the longest stretch of winter weather we've had all winter. this is the last full week of winter. so not very timely but we need the rain and need the snow in tahoe. wait until you see this live of northstar, it is dumping up there. we're still on the warm side of this system. i want to point out a couple of things, showers moving past the golden gate bridge and into the city of san francisco, very light right now. as we head through the next 15 or 20 minutes, the steady rain moves in. once that starts, you'll see consistent rain in the city of san francisco for at least three hours straight and yeah, that could insides with the morning drive. keep that in mind. in addition to the rain, we've got pretty strong wind gusts, watch out over the open water bridges and through the higher elevations where we lack the friction. the strongest is in oakland, 30 miles per hour, that's a strong gust, take it easy over the bay bridge. temperatures are mild but we won't climb all that much. maybe an additional eight

degrees. cold air behind that front will move in throughout the day today. we're going to continue those showers all the way through the evening hours, 6:00 p.m., you see moderate rain coming down over napa, continue that future cast to until 4:00 p.m. tomorrow tracking more showers. when i show you the seven-day, you'll have some opportunities to get outdoors, i'll tell you when those opportunities will arrive. they are few and far between but we will get a couple. first, less get you out the front door on a good note. >> we're looking at conditions, not the traffic flow. right now i did see a couple of issues cropping up in the south bay cueing there may be an incident. we haven't had any incidents going on. i've circled two areas that have shown in the 40s and 50s, indicating more volume of traffic, this may in fact be the morning commute kicking off already. with the wet, windy conditions throughout the bay, prepare for slower kmuts throughout the

morning. highway 4 shaping up normal here, compressing down through antioch. at the bay bridge, we have the backup in the fast track lanes that looks like what -- how things shape up as they turn the metering lights on, waiting for confirmation from chp but they are on guys, back to you. >> and the backup begins. 6:11, if your commute takes you on muny, leaders have a message for you. they want you to be alertd and aware of surroundings when using your smart phone or other devices on public transit. they'll announce a new public service safety campaign in san francisco this afternoon. >> remember the home alone house? that house has been sold at a steal relatively speaking. the four bedroom house in the chicago suburb sold for more than a third off the asking price, about $1.5 million.

the house sits on a half acre lot and has been on the market for about a year. the seller, when the movie was shot only lived in the hour about a year and a half when the director of the film stepped up and asked if they could use the house in the classic 1990 movie. >> that was 22 years ago already? >> i thought about that too. >> that means mac kul lay culkin is like 65. >> hardly. >> a couple of bay area teams get ready for march madness. one ranked number one in their region. >> he's younger than me. >> i would hope so. a new video as a plane kareens off a highway. plus a terminal cancer patient who says she was kicked out of the hospital for using hecadir l mariana. ♪

so, this is delicious okay... is this where we're at now, we don't care anymore? we just eat whatever tastes good? excuse me? [ man ] like these sweet honey clusters, they're awesome so no way they're good for you. but i guess that's okay right? actually there's a half a day's worth of fiber in every ... why stop at cereal? ya know? cancel the gym membership. bring on the pork chops and the hot fudge. fantastic. are you done sweetie? yea [ male announcer ] fiber beyond recognition. fiber one.

welcome back, a new partnership being formed to strengthen disaster response and recovery. the federal emergency management agency, fema and americore will team up to respond to disasters like the recent tornado outbreak in the south and midwest this month. a plane in a potential scary accidents car reens off the runway at hartsfield-jackson international airport. two maintenance workers were testing engines with the brakes failed and the plane started to move and not stop. that is freaky to look at. we're happy to report nobody hurt and the crews trying to move out this damaged plane. i guess you just get a jumbo tow truck or something. i don't know how you get it off

of there. >> doesn't that look like a movie set. >> looks like it's fake. it's real but happy to report no one got hurt. >> the rain is falling, let's check the forecast with christina. >> not just the rain, the snow is coming down in heaps up in ta hoe, this is about 6500 feet, this is northstar and it's hard to tell with all of the snow coming down. that's a car driving through the snow. if you will be heading up to tahoe to enjoy the fantastic conditions developing right now, bring the chains with you. as you can see already getting fresh powder here. there's a lot more on the way. we're talking about the potential for 6 feet, 6 feet of fresh new snow in the tahoe area. get ready for that. let's take it to the radar this morning. radar shows you we do have showers moving through the bay area. here they are moving south of the golden gate bridge. we'll show you that shot in just

a moment. boy, oh, boy, that getting nice and slick out there. that will continue as we head through the next three hours. that means you could see a very sloppy drive this morning. give yourself plenty of time if you're taking the live ones to school. the marina tells the story, windy conditions, 51 degrees at 8:00 a.m., 53 by noon. windy conditions continue. by 4:00 p.m. we'll start to relax the winds a little bit. only topping out in the mid-50s today in the city by the bay with a good amount of fog developing. next 48 hours work out like this. we're still on the warm side of that front. the cold blast moves in tonight as that happens, we'll see another round of instability and another round of gusty winds as our next system moves onshore. we've got a series of systems on the way. tomorrow remains wet and thursday morning looks like a little dry break for the first part of the day but periods of rain develop, just in time for the evening commute thursday. friday into saturday, we get

storms. so as temperatures start to warm up on friday, 60 degrees and that's certainly warm enough for isolated thunderstorms. we'll keep the thunderstorm chance in the mix saturday and sunday and that means rain on st. patrick's day. but without rain you don't get a rainbow on st. patrick's day. maybe a pot of gold at the end for you. >> i'll take that. maybe some irish spring as well. lucky charms, all -- these are questionable products. we'll look to at the time roadways as far as the endorsements go, a lot of green around cloverleaf, right -- anyways, we're looking at wind advisories for the bridges. wind and rain playing a factor, not causing slowing along the peninsula but the san mateo bridge and dumb bart ton have wind advisories and any bridges. we looked at 101 as well as highway 87. we had slowing and a little bit remains for 87, but the early burst of traffic cues into the morning commute. expect slower spots through

sunol and 880 as well. an accident and debris affecting your two middle lanes, haven't seen a lot of slowing but we see slowing at the dublin interchange. heavier volume out of altamont pass. 238 shows a little slowing, we'll catch up 880 through oakland and see how things are shaping up. the camera shakes because of the wind and bay bridge toll plaza, metering lights on early. 6:19, a major bay area hospital is facing criticism after telling a terminal patient to put away her medical marijuana. angel rach was told to leave uclf medical center as she tried to light up in the building. she suffers from an inoperable brain tumor or was admitted for tests. she agreed to leave but remains

upset over this decision. >> wait a minute, you're asking me to not use my canny bus and basically saying, if i stay, it's like giving me a death sentence because i would have to be without my cannibus. >> she has gone to the supreme court use for the right to use cannibus. >> the team signing future hall of famer randy moss to a one year deal. he's top ten in a lot of receiving lists all time. he worked out for 15 minutes for the niners and they stepped up and offered him a deal. moss did not play at all last season. the niners say they like what they see, they are not worried at all. 6:20, a couple of bay area teams making it into the women's ncaa tournament. stanford is the number one seed in the fresno region. they went 31-1 this season.

the cardinal will open season play against hampton on saturday. the cal bears getting an invite, the number eight seed. they play their first round on sunday against iowa. best of luck to both of them. >> love this time of year. get ready to fill out that pool. >> make some money. >> with you helping me i will. >> 6:21, the bay area city trying to protect homeowners in danger of foreclosure and what it's asking one of nation's largest banks. >> rolling off assembly line, the latest electric car being produced in the bayeaar. aarea. a crisis over something called rare earth. we'll take a look coming up. ♪

beth! hi! looking good. you've lost some weight. thanks. you noticed. these clothes are too big, so i'm donating them.

how'd you do it? eating right -- whole grain. [ female announcer ] people who choose more whole grain tend to weigh less than those who don't. multi-grain cheerios -- 5 whole grains, 110 calories. creamy, dreamy peanut butter taste in a tempting new cereal. mmm! [ female announcer ] new multi-grain cheerios peanut butter.

welcome back on this tuesday morning, making san francisco more bike friendly is the goal of a proposal before the board of supervisors today. the new law would require owners of commercial buildings to accommodate bicyclists, letting tenants bring bikes into the buildings and provide security bike parking outside. the aim is to get people out of their cars and on to bikes up in san francisco. today's vote is a final vote before sending it off to the mayor for his signature. oakland is looking for ways to put pressure on wells fargo to help homeowners facing foreclosure, a committee wants to change rules to give the council more freedom to end city contracts with the bank. one councilwoman says the idea

is to force wells fargo to consider loan modifications to help people stay in homes. the contract with wells fargo expires at the end of the year. the first all electric sedan has rolled off the assembly line. have you seen it? it's assem shled from parts supplied around the world. they plan to make 5,000 cars this year. coda sells for $37,000 and qualifies for a 7500 federal tax credit. and $2500 state rebate. the former head of newspapers in the murdoch empire in jail this morning. scott mccrew has the latest. >> good morning, british law says police don't have to say who they have in custody but various reports say rebecca brooks has been arrested. she headed up the now defunk news of the world and deeply involved in the phone-hacking scandal. she's been arrested on similar charges before and her husband,

who is very good friends with the prime minister was also taken into custody this morning. the quts norkz times says new federal investigation finds managers at the nation's top banks, including wells fargo balgsed in san francisco, knew something was amiss when it foreclosed on thousands of mortgage. employees at wells fargo were given bogus titles, like vice president of loan documentation even though the article says they had no training in document review before becoming vice president, one employee worked at a pizza restaurant. other news this morning, the chinese, which own the biggest rare earth mines in the world will reduce the amount of rare earth production. these are elements like scanned yum, which are critical to the manufacturer of gadget as the high tech industry, obama administration very concerned. president obama has threatened to take the chinese to the world trade organization, that's

rarely done. could spark a trade war. but rare earth is critical to the american economy. there is a mine here in california, a company called mali corp in mountain pass near the mojave. ceo jim simms tell me the phrase rare earth is a bit of a misnomer. it is everywhere but in very small quantities. it's unusual to find it ko concentrat concentrated. the chinese account for 95% of the world's rare earth. back to you. >> interesting story, scott, thank you very much. 6:27, still to come on today in the bay, the bay area school district talking about making it tougher for high schoolers to graduate. why opponents are so upset. the wild weather ride starts today as a first of a series of storms moves through. i'll tell you what's next to

come coming up. the potential for your commute to slow as well. we're seeing that. i'll show you what the latest incident is in the east bay, that coming up. 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. ♪ ♪ when it comes. ♪ custom spoiler, race grade pistons, ♪ ♪ gt35 turbo charger. ♪ and they'll all know that it's kevin's awesome car. ♪ bought em! ( clears throat ) sorry. when it's on your mind, it's on ebay.

chances are your soil is like this: compacted, drained of nutrients. it'll hold your plants... but it'll also hold 'em back. the solution: miracle-gro garden soil. the perfect mix of rich, organic ingredients, and miracle-gro plant food. just mix it in. and turn bad soil into great soil. helps plants grow twice as big. instead of holding 'em back, they'll leap ahead. miracle-gro garden soil. start right. finish big.

new this morning, investigators trying to figure out why six cars caught fire overnight at an oakland apartment complex. i'm christie smith and i'll have the story in a live report. also, pg&e back under the microscope for actions before the san bruno explosion. how you can get a look at the revised plans for the high speed rail line supposed to roll right through the bay area. we give you a live look outside at the bay bridge. a little bit bouncy. there is rain in the forecast. the roads are a little slick. please be safe, it is tuesday, march 13th, "today in the bay."

good morning, rise and shine to you. it is 6:30 on this tuesday. >> good morning, everybody, we check in with meteorologist christina loren. why we should blame it on the rain. >> millie van i willy told us too and everything should be taken as truth. the worst the rain not yet moving in but we have steady rain showers past the golden gate bridge onto the peninsula. that action will ramp up throughout the morning. we have strong thunderstorms and hail and very low snow level. let's check your drive. >> that pattern of the rain about the same as the peninsula drive, building. watch for that to be an issue. on the east bay we have an accident sounds like two separate accidents south of that dublin interchange, southbound 680 and another at stone ridge

affecting traffic. the traffic break may have cleared after debris there. the build typical out of the altamont pass and a live look out there again. bay bridge from san francisco, we see the camera shaking from time to time, wind advisories any of the bay area bridges. hold on tight. it was nothing short of a scary morning for residents of an oakland apartment complex and somebody literally pounding on their doors yelling fire. christie smith it there live with the damage and why this actually could have been much worse. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, right now investigators are picking through this car port in about a half dozen burned cars while neighbors are standing around on the streets, some of them in robes and blankets talking about the close call they had overnight when this fire broke out. i also spoke with a neighbor who shot some cell phone video about 4:00 this morning. she tells me that the flames

were just pouring out of the car port of the apartment complex on adam street and it spread upwards quickly to the apartments and a manager went banging on doors. some heard cracking and popping going on downstairs. then they say they just got out with what they had on. fortunately everyone is okay but firefighters tell me at least for now, they are not sure if it started in a car or outside of a car. >> once the first car got going, it's very conceivable it would then extend to the other vehicles. we have an investigator looking at it just to see what we think happened. >> reporter: any reason to believe it's suspicious? >> it's hard to say at this point in time based on the rapid progression of the fire, it's something on our minds certainly. >> reporter: two apartment buildings are burned and few others had smoke damage. the electricity and gas to the building was shut off too. the red cross is here helping

out about 18 adults and a half dozen kids. the firefighters tell me the garage wasn't required, it wasn't part of the requirement to have sprinklers but it certainly would have helped to put this fire out if they were there. reporting live in oakland, christie smith. it is 6:34. the a's are looking to move but there's no for sale sign over that team. the managing partner lou wolf has no knowledge of any ownership groups xpretsing interest in the team. that statement is response to a story in the chronicle which complained two groups called major league baseball to buy the team and keep it in oakland. one of the groups is reportedly based in los angeles and dropped out of the bidding to buy the dodgers. the other group is led by a high profile silicon valley company. >> over the next few weeks the city of san bruno receiving a check from $70 million from pg&e

from the 2010 pipeline explosion. the announcements coming the same day state regulators released a scathing report on the record keeping. the report calls the company's books a complete mess saying information is just scattered and disorganized and accused pg&e of not knowing key information about pipeline locations and leaks. >> how can you possibly be keeping the pipe line safe if you don't even know what the pipelines are made of, where they are or how ould they are? we're concerned about every inch of pg&e's territory. >> all part of cpu investigation as to whether the record keeping violated laws and contributed to the san bruno disaster. palo alto students may soon face tougher graduation requirements. the teachers will join a board of education study session on whether to stiffen the rules for palo alto and gunn high school,

they are looking at lining them with the entrance criteria of the state's four year public universities. school leaders want to raise the expectation and performance of 20% of the students who graduate without fulfilling those requirements. it is 6:35, can you get a sneak preview of the high speed rail plan later today. state leader holding a hearing previewing proposals for the controversial $100 billion project. the public will also be able to give its input. the hearing will be at the mountain view center for performing arts and it starts at 7:00 tonight. grab those umbrellas and let's check the forecast. christina, we're getting a soaking out there. >> we certainly are. hold on to your steering wheel this morning in addition to showers, we've got gusty winds and it has just begun. we're going to see the wet pattern continue as we head throughout the next seven days. we're talking about a lot of

rain potentially up to four inches in cities that pick up the most. and every single day all the way through sunday significant rainfall chances. enough to keep you indoors all the way through. this is what it looks like right now. radar shows you the front pushing into san francisco and pushing past the golden gate bridge. you saw the highway nice and slick and this will continue to slide south throughout the morning hours. we're talking about slick conditions even in san jose, the steady rain about two hours away from the south bay. as we head throughout the morning we're tracking really strong gusts especially up in novato, 20 miles per hour in livermore and the wind gusts wul continue as the front pushes onshore. 64 degrees inland. not too cold, the cold air settles in tonight and tomorrow we won't see any 60s on the temperature map, more like the 50s. after the rain event tomorrow as well we get strong thunderstorms and very low snow levels. we'll talk about that in the

seven-day forecast. let's check your drive with mike innoou inoue. >> wind advisories on our map for any of your bay area bridges. hold on tight, there are slick conditions because of the rain as well. metering lights turn on early at the toll plaza. the toll plaza looks like this. the backup in all lanes back to the 880 overcrossing. that will play a delay off the maze and east shore freeway. back to the maps, antioch has a slowing and i've circled southbound 680, slowing towards the wall nut creek interchange. an excellent clearing to the shoulder to the southbound 680 but slow from the dublin interchange. a quick check of the south bay, live look, picking up volume we'll show you where it's slowing in a few minutes, back to you. >> it is 6:38. we know now who will lead the delegation during the summer games in london. voters in two states at the

polls this morning, trying to choose who they want to represent republicans in the race for president. details coming up in a live report. >> reporter: becoming more business friendly, live in san jose with how council members are trying to fill u buildings. the details of their plans coming up. hey guys, breakfast!

♪ [ female announcer ] if whole grain isn't the first ingredient in your breakfast cereal, what is? now, in every box of general mills big g cereal, there's more whole grain than any other ingredient. that's why it's listed first on the side. from honey nut cheerios to cinnamon toast crunch to lucky charms, get more whole grain than any other ingredient... without question. just look for the white check.

that could adapt to changing road conditions. one that continually monitors and corrects for wheel slip. we imagined a vehicle that can increase emergency braking power when you need it most. and we imagined it looking like nothing else on the road today. then...we built it. the 2012 glk. where bold engineering meets bold design. starting at $35,880. welcome back, this morning

gop candidates are trying to seal the deal in the south. tracy potts joins us with the latest on the primaries. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, it's going to take more than grits and gravy to seem the deal in alabama and mississippi. the candidates have been there talking a lot about that but the voters are saying they want to hear a lot about the economy and a lot about the gas prices, rick santorum and newt gingrich talking about energy and oil prices yesterday in mississippi. gingrich for these two states, they are sort of a must-win for him in terms of trying to keep his campaign alive. and in fact, he is on top of a number of polls leading into this primary day. but mitt romney, who was not expected to do nearly as well in the south, he hasn't been as strong with those conservative ee van gvangelical voters seems doing really well. his polls up there with newt gingrich. in mississippi, some polls he's

leading and some polls gring rich is leading as well. meantime, president obama, his approval rating is up and down, down to 41% in one major poll and the analysts are telling us they think that has a lot to do yet again with the gas prices. >> okay, thank you. 15 minutes of uninterrupted news coming your way including what appears to be the final step in bringing 49ers down to santa clara. a new proposal working its way through the state capital aimedanning violent banning vio from sporting events. details are next. who's your car's best friend? gasoline that cleans. chevron with techron. care for your car. chevron with techron. (car horn) paying with your smartphone instead of cash...

(phone rings) that's a step forward. with chase quickpay, you can send money directly to anyone's checking account. i guess he's a kicker... again, again! oh, no you don't! take a step forward and chase what matters. double your data. 4 gigabytes for just $30 a month. with 4 gigabytes, you could send and receive over 400,000 emails. or stream over 1,100 songs. or use gps navigation for 34 continuous days. all the data you need to power your favorite apps. 4 gigabytes for $30. only on america's largest 4g lte network. now buy one samsung stratosphere for $99.99, get another one free. verizon. okay, so who ordered the cereal that can help lower cholesterol and who ordered the yummy cereal? yummy. that's yours. lower cholesterol. lower cholesterol. i'm yummy. lower cholesterol. i got that wrong didn't i?

[ male announcer ] want great taste? honey nut cheerios. want whole grain oats that can help lower cholesterol? honey nut cheerios. it's a win win. good? [ crunching, sipping ] be happy. be healthy. can i try yours? are you awake? good morning, it's 6:45, get ready for the rain.

>> i thought you were talking to me. >> are you? i should hope so. >> now i am, appreciate that. >> any time john kelly, you know what, you want to make sure you are super alert this morning, we have dangerous driving conditions, not only are the showers coming down, you've got really strong gusts of wind and it's not like it's a consistent trend when it comes to wind speeds, sustained wind speeds are rather light right now. you could get caught by a 35-mile-per-hour wind gust off guard. you want to make sure you're aware of that. we've got slick conditions on the golden gate bridge and that's going to be the case just about everywhere, just about all day long. so you'll be at 61 at noon and 55 degrees by the bay and 53 at the coast. temperatures on the cool side. today is one of the warmer days we'll see this week when the rain cold air comes through, it will drop your temperatures and they'll come back up a little bit. three-day forecast shows you on and off showers today, blustery rain tomorrow, thursday we get a

nice dry break for the first part of the day but then periods of rain as another system moves onshore. friday it starts to get interesting, we could see strong thunderstorms develop. that continues into saturday and the potential for hail is actually likely. we could see very strong thunderstorms. the best chance looks like late saturday into sunday. then sunday a very cold system moves into the bay area. this will drop snow levels down to 2,000 feet, potentially a mix of rain and snow at 1,000 feet. we're talking about the low snow levels that we only get a couple of times a year in the winter, very cold air and maybe a dusting on our local foothills. we'll continue to track that for you. i've got a pretty good handle on the timing of the storms and we'llup date as we meet back here. >> christina, you're talking about the rain coming through the area and also the wind being a factor for the bridges. that's what chp tells me. the rain just hit in san rafael and towards the golden gate

bridge and that is a factor as far as the drive goes. wet roads, a slowerer drive from her kul ease down to the bay bridge. not so bad for a tuesday but crossing the bray further south, the san mateo bridge, you see the moisture in the air will play a factor. we have a disabled vehicle we just discovered here westbound 92. it's out of lanes but a bit of a distraction in your commute area. peninsula side not showing slowing through 101, 101, 87 and 85 in the slow builds but this is a little later than we typically see on a tuesday. easing into the commute through the valley and southbound 68, accident now moved to the shoulder, back to you. >> it is 6:48 right now. hundreds of students in eastern afghanistan holding a protest this morning calling for a public trial of the u.s. soldier

who went on a crazed deadly shooting spree. they carried banners in the city of tal lad bad, shouting death to america. 2,000 people taking part and calling for u.s. forces to leave the country and they burned american flags and a cross. defense secretary leon panetta says the soldier accused of killing 16 afghan civilians including nine children could be facing the death penalty. reports are the 38-year-old staff sergeant is a trained sniper who may have recently suffered a head injury in a vehicle accident. 6:49, san francisco could be looking for a new sheriff as early as next week. ross pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of false imprisonment as part of a plea deal to have other charges thrown out. he has the option of pursuing an official misconduct his job which could cost him his job. the sheriff is scheduled to be

sentenced on friday. after that he'll make a decision. >> there has been distractions to be quite candid. but i think now i have to focus on this charge because there's been a plea, admission of guilty. and therefore i've got to go forward with that assessment. >> under the plea deal, he'll get three years probation, serve 100 hours of community service and attend 52 weeks of domestic violence classes. he must also publicly apologize to witness ivory madson an her family. the city of san jose looking to bring life to the downtown area by making it easier for businesses to set up shop. stephanie chuang joins us from live downtown on a new city council proposal. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, john. here around downtown san jose, you'll see a lot of this available signs, vacancy rate at any given time is 20 to 25% here. so the city council is set to change its own rules.

on agenda tonight, reversing the zoning code that reserves all glound floor space for retail use only. since 2000 the companies have been pushed down on the list, not allowed to use it as office space. the city wanted to build a vibrant atmosphere at the street level. with so many empty buildings, council members admit it's time for the city to get out of its own way. >> how to make it easier for businesses to hire in the city. we recognize we're finally making progress but we've got a long way to go. this is an important step to help accelerate job growth in the city. >> reporter: the city council will likely take that issue up as earl lir as a week and focus on another major concern, targeting how the city deals with businesses that are trying to apply for a permit to sell liquor. council members say the process has really cost businesses too much time and too much money. for instance, here trying to get a fresh and easy market to set up shop has taken longer than anybody wanted. tonight city council will try to

stream line that process. line in downtown san jose, stephanie chuang, today in the bay. police need your help finding a pair of thieves. surveillance images captured at one of two businesses robbed saturday night. the duo pried open locked doors and stole computers, printers and other electronics from the business on contractors street. you're asked to call livermore police if you have any information about the robberies. santa rare cclara expected e final approval on the budget, financing and lease for the facility. just last week a jung dismissed opponents depending another vote on the project. the construction could start up this summer or early actually spring or early summer and should be ready for the 2014 season. keeping the fans safe at sporting events is behind an extreme proposal in sacramento.

a lawmakers wants to ban violent fans from all game. authorities would provide a list of violent offenders and prohibit them from attending sporting events. fan violence has become a pressing incidents after the brutal beating of stowe. if passed, the measure would take echkt next year. >> tough to enforce on that one. drug companies would be responsible for disposing unwanted prescriptions in the east bay. voting today to require manufacturers that they fund the collection of unused drugs. it would be the first law like it in the entire nation. the county provides dropoff boxes in several cities. it is in response to environmental concerns as the drug ends up in the water supply and it's there to help keep the discarded drugs out of the hands of teenagers. right now oakland fire crews

are mopping up after a one-alarm fire destroyed several cars and damaged some apartments. christie smith is there live with the latest for us. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. what a morning for residents here in oakland, an apartment complex woke up to banging and yelling to get out because the apartment was on fire. they got out and saw it was actually the car port burning. i did get cell phone video from a neighbor this morning on adam street. firefighters at this point saying they don't know exactly how this caught fire but it was six cars. they tell me it was very intense for them because this area has high density apartments, they were worried about everyone getting out okay. fortunately they did. i just spoke with the red cross a couple of minutes ago and they tell me even though power is out to the building, a number of people are back in. two apartments they believe are damaged. right now they tell me they are

helping ten people but they do expect that number to climb a little built later this morning when people start returning back home because a lot of them got out and left the neighborhood. reporting live in oakland, christie smith, today in the bay. the "today" show coming up a few minutes from now. here's ann curry with a preview. >> good morning, coming up here on a tuesday morning on "today," unusually warm weather for this time of the year over a large portion of the country. just who will be feeling the heat? al will tell us who the lucky ones are this morning. also ahead, the impact of rising gas prices are having on the presidential campaign and how millions of americans are finding ways to cope. plus, a major plot twist in the desperate housewives trial, was a cover-up surrounding her firing, plus an exclusive first look at the rare jewels found in a safety deposit box of huguette clark which was just opened for

first time in 70 years. when we get started on a tuesday morning here on "today." new this morning, we now know who will lead the u.s. during the opening ceremonies of the olympic games. the white house confirming this morning it will be first latddy michelle obama. it has become somewhat of a tradition for first ladies, laura bush did it for the 2006 winter games and hillary rodham clinton for the '94 winter games. the winter games air here and will be held july 27th in london. mrs. obama will be in the bay area. she will attend a fund raising event at the california academy of sciences in san francisco. some gets will attend a private reception with the first lady, provided of course, they contribute enough to president obama's re-election campaign. this from the strange but true file. police all over the country looking for ways to stem the

tide of tide thefts, we're talking detergent. they are calling it a grime wave. one man got caught ripping off $25,000 worth of the product before he was arrested. the detergent, yes it is expensive and has no serial number so it ends up being resolid or traded for drugs. in some cities the cvs chain has taken to attaching the security tags on the bottles to alert the staff when they leave the building. >> that's a head scratcher. not sure how tide stock is doing today but business and tech reporter scott mcgrew is watching the markets for us. >> probably procter & gamble. >> yelp is up and the dow indust up 29 points and nasdaq up 29. i thought you might like this video. this is video of a garbage man. he's quickly working and he's a fast guy but there's something

disturbing this man -- we think he can't get something out of the can. this is when he gets slightly upset. we've had all days at work like this and gosh darn it. >> easy big shooting. >> actually going postal. >> the amazing thing, he will clean up his mess. he threw away your mailbox but cleans it up, every last scrap then gets on the truck and says, all right bob, we're out of here. why someone would shoot that, i don't know. it's on youtube and worth showing. >> do we know which city? >> we know nothing. that's the kind of research department i have, it's funny and there you go. >> that's what counts. >> anger management problems but committed to keeping streets clean for us. >> made all of us laugh, including you at home. let's check the forecast. >> good but dangerous. >> these guys, postal workers they have to get out in the rain today so we tip our hats to

anybody working outdoors. rain showers moving into the peninsu peninsula, i'll have facebook updates throughout the day. showers across the board. let's check your drive with mike inouye. >> that rain has been falling in the north bay. we're looking over here to the crossing the bay, this is the san mateo bridge, a smooth drive but the camera shakes because the wind and wet roads. we'll get you another look and see how things are shaping up threw sunol. slow around the golf course and into fremont. an accident moved to the shoulder over at stone ridge. things are moving smoothly but slowly into the south bay. be careful, back to you. >> if you're wondering how many islands are in the hawaii island chain, the answer is eight. some of the quarters didn't know that or at least the manufacturer didn't. some of the quarters have two extra islands on them if you look closely. they came from the u.s. mint in philadelphia and could be the result of a manufacturing