it's wednesday morning, you made it! not a bad look at the transamerica pyramid. it is wednesday, july 18th. this is "today in the bay." it is 4:31 on the nose. good morning, everybody. good morning, everybody. happy you could join us. i'm jon kelly. >> and i'm laura garcia-cannon. lots to get to this morning. let's check that forecast with laura christina loren. >> another unseasonably cool day, when you consider the temperatures across the nation day. starting out at 60 in san jose this morning, 61 in sunnyvale, 61 in san francisco. major heat with wave on the way. and we're taking an up close look and personal look at fabio this morning. we'll talk about that, coming up. 4:31, first, here's mike and your drive. >> i remember him getting in the face with a goose on that roller-coaster. >> what?

>> over here at broadway w, westbound 24, you see the yellow slows don just a tad bit, but i hear that crews have just cleared that from the roadway. there should be no more slowing now from the caldecott tunnel to the bay bridge. there's also construction to the south of there. southbound 880 coming out of downtown, heading towards fruitvale avenue. the construction now extended until 6:00. but no slowing so far. and another accident to the north as well as you're passing central avenue. this may be actually over off to the shoulder. as the tow truck arrives, we may have a lane blocked, but so far the traffic flows down the east shore freeway without interruption. back to you. >> thank you very much, mike. >> you can call this one unusual, unique, outside the box. it's a protest planned this morning as the uc regents meet. >> students dressed as zombies will descend on the campus. bob redell joins us live with more on what's behind their

statements. good morning, bob. >> reporter: good morning, laura and jon. later this morning, the so-called zombie protesters will show up here at the mission bay campus to protest the uc board of regents meeting that will be taking place later this morning. and their idea is to highlight what they see as the death of higher education. they're concerned that the board could ren raise tuitions at uc schools by as much as 20%. we spoke with uc. interestingly, the board today is not voting to raise tuition. rather, they're expected to temporarily freeze the amount students pay to attend uc. in other words, keep it status quo. in exchange, the state has promised an additional $125 million in funding next year. the board is also expected to endorse governor brown's tax initiative. proposition 30 would temporarily raise the sales tax and income tax on those making over $250,000. that tax proposal could bring in

another $250 million for the school system. so why are protesters upset? if voters do not pass prop 30 in november, the uc system will not only lose the $250, but also the $125, putting it in the hole for almost $400 million. to make up that difference, the board might then have to consider a 20.3% increase in tuition in the middle of the year. reporting live here in san francisco, bob redell, "today in the bay." in the meantime, the csu system struggling with its own budget problems and warning of dire consequences if the tax initiative fails in november. the board says it would likely mean higher tuition and reduced enrollment. still, the board just approved salary hikes for three campus presidents, including leslie wong at san francisco state. wong will now make $325,000 a year along with a car and housing allowance. we've already heard from suspended sheriff ross murkreemi

and today his wife talks. she'll be talking today before ethics commissions which will decide whether her husband can face his job. he's facing false imprisonment charges for bruising her arm during a new year's eve argument. mayor ed lee suspend him and now wants him removed permanently. the convicted killer was found guilty of wrongful death. a jury ruling reiser must pay his children $60 million for killing their mother back in 2006. the software engineer, well, he defended himself during the week-long trial, but showed no emotion when that verdict was read. the children's attorney says the decision ensures any money reiser makes, even from prison, will go straight to the kids. the next step is to track down reiser's assets and figure out exactly how much money he has.

4:35 this morning, only on nbc bay area, five years after a helicopter crash in hawaii killed her boyfriend and left her permanently disabled, a los altos woman is sharing her story. >> when it hit, it just hit. and i went forward and then i came back. >> dania hanson talks only to nbc bay area about the scary moments when the chopper went down. her boyfriend died just minutes after that crash. three others were injured. hanson can no longer walk. instead, she uses a scooter to get around. she says the crash is still in her mind, even after five years. >> almost every day, i think about it. and especially if i hear helicopters go over. and i just look at them. and it takes me back, inside. >> the ntsb has blamed a manufacturing defect in the chopper's tail section for causing the accident.

hanson received a settlement for her injuries from the companies connected to the helicopter. as she looked back, she says she's not angry at those companies and calls all of this a terrible accident. it is 4:36 right now. a bay area family using simple online detective work to help recover some stolen property. while searching craigslist, they found jewelry which was taken from their home in san leandro. several of those items had the very same contact number, so the family then decided to call police with their leads and officers jumped on this case. after investigators set up a buy, they were able to make an arrest. the victim who does not want to be identified is grateful. >> wow! that really did work! all of that really worked! you know? and like i said, they just really stayed on top of it and they were really smart in the way they went about it. >> great work, great results, but san leandro police, they point out the department is short staffed and they do appreciate all that help in

developing the leads, but they also stress you should not get physically involved. 4:37. a plan to pay some teachers more than others is sparking controversy. president obama's stem program would add an additional $20,000 for teachers who teach math, science, and technology. some educators feel all teachers should be paid equally, but others like the idea. >> there's a challenge between acquiring teachers, because they compete against industry. they can go be an engineer at a big company like cisco or they can be a teacher. >> reporte >> the stem program will start off slowly, awarding just 50 teachers. it will then expand over the next four years do recognize over 10,000 instructors. governor brown will be in san francisco this afternoon to sign the high-speed rail funding bill. the bill provides nearly $8 billion to start construction. the line will eventually link

the bay area to los angeles. critics call the bullet train a boondoggle and a waste of money. bill will sign the bill at the future transbay transit center. >> i don't think i've ever seen boondoggle this early in the morning. >> very underutilized word, but i like it. >> let it be documented, 4:39. so are we expecting more sunshine? >> a great-looking day shaping up good morning to you, bay area. temperatures this morning, nice and comfortable, in the 50s and 60s headed towards the 70s. morrissey across the bay may touch on the very low 80s, i'm talk like fairfield and gilroy, but 70s yet again and picture-perfect conditions. as you head from the coast right now into your inland cities, the marine larry has filled out all of your inland cities this morning, but you're going to get the best drive right now. as we head through the next few hours, that's when it starts to settle in through the surface. slight warming as we head throughout this afternoon, and then we've got the 90s, even

triple-digit potential in your seven-day forecast. i'll take you through that coming up, 4:39 first. mike's already busy on a wednesday morning. >> fortunately i can give updates, and one of the updates we have is there is a clearing for highway 24. the accident we had over there westbound 24 at broadway has cleared off to the broadway off-ramp. off the highway, we still see some slowing related to some sort of traffic break or slowing that had to go on as they removed that car, which was facing the wrong way in the middle of highway 24. again, that cleared. near the top of your screen, we had the accident i reported at central. it's at san pablo. it is off of the roadway, still. again, no slowing at the scene, but a tow truck should arrive hopefully quickly and then they will have to probably block the slow lane to pull that off of the embankment. right no injuries reported, at least nothing major, and no one's blocked at that scene. we have eastbound highway 4 opposite of your main commute, it is completely closed, and you get off and back on the freeway at the same transition, and

westbound at 57 holds a nice westbound commute so far. a live look at the san mateo bridge. in problems over the water here, but later on today, 6:00 a.m. for the eastbound direction, those headlights, and 11:00 a.m. for the westbound direction, they will be closing one lane in each direction today, tomorrow, and friday through the middle of the day, preparing some retrofit work and that should slow your commute through the morning hours. but we'll watch for this and i'll let you know how heavily that impacts traffic. it shouldn't be too bad. the morning commute doesn't kick in -- i'm sorry, the eastbound commute doesn't kick in until the evening hours. >> thank you very much. time for a linsanity update. now he's heading to the lone star state. the bay area native heading to the houston rockets after the new york knicks decided not to match that three-year, $25 million offer from houston. that deal includes nearly 15 million bucks owed in the contract's third year and that was too rich for new york, and it would have come for a luxury tax for the team and they didn't

want to step into that. the palo alto high school grad made a mere $778,000 last year playing for the knicks. before that, he was just on a ten-day contract. so he was going from just wanting to paycheck the team and $800 grand to $5 million next year. >> nice couch. >> congratulations. still ahead, pass tax cuts or risk another recession. the warning financial leaders are sending to congress, next. plus, paying a tax for every mile you drive. how about that? the bay area proposal that's got drivers talking.

welcome back, everyone. taking a live look outside. kind of cool shot overlooking the south bay. that's san jose this morning. >> sharp. >> waiting for the sun's arrival. still early, halfway through your workweek, 4:45. >> it is early, isn't it? in washington today, there's more concerns over tax cuts and how they could ultimately affect the economy. those bush tax cuts expiring at the end of the year and congress must now decide whether to extend them. now, if congress does not act, automatic spending cuts could kick in. federal reserve chairman ben bernanke warning yesterday not extending those tax cuts could have some dire consequences >> it would probably knock the

recovery back into a recession and cost a lot of jobs. >> well, bernanke urging lawmakers not to just can kick the can down the road, but come up with some real long-term solutions. that means getting along. we'll see about that. now, upon further review of the markets, well, they really didn't take bernanke's news all that badly. for a look at which way those markets might move today, let's check in with ms. bertha coombs live running the show at cnbc world headquarters. good morning, bertha. >> running the show! god, i wish that were true, jon. but bernanke kind of ran the show yesterday. we started the day higher. those gloomy remarks sent markets lower, but then he offered a little bit of hope and we ended the day up 78 points for the dow at 12805, the nasdaq was up 13 at 2910. we also had some good earnings to give us a bit of a tailwind, coca-cola and goldman sachs beating the expectations. ben bernanke did give that gloomy outlook to the senate

panel, but he also says that the fed stands ready to act, though he wouldn't say when or why. the gets more questions today over on the house side. overnight, asian stocks were lower, europe this morning is higher. here we're going to be watching for some housing data and later on this afternoon, the fed report on the economic conditions known as the beige book, if you're among the economic geeks. also, we've got earnings ahead of the bell coming from bank of america, american express, and ibm. futures, as i mentioned, a little bit lower here ahead of the open. meanwhile, directv says it's a little closer to reaching a deal with viacom regarding several feeds. customers have been without nickelodeon, comedy central and others for about a week now. viacom is asking to return those channels while they work out a deal. viacom has restored free online

access to many shows they had cut like "the daily show" and "square bob spongepants." but the funny thing, is "the daily show" was off most of last week. >> for the record, bertha, you are my guiding light at cnbc world headquarters, so we'll keep it there as far as i'm concerned. >> ohh, thank you. talk to you later. >> see you later. >> i was feeling that love. that's night. >> a lot of it out there. a lot of nice weather ahead later today. that warm-up's coming later this weekend. >> yeah, we'll get much warmer. a lot of people are complaining. they want their summertime in the bay area. you'll get, and lots of it. this morning, though, starting out nice and comfortable in san jose, 60 degrees. you probably have been able to get by without your ac over the past couple of days because we're getting that natural coolant. one more day and things start to heat up rapidly with a big ridge of high pressure on the way to the bay area. 56 degrees in concord this morning and fairfield, a great-looking day shaping up for

outdoor activities. then it might get a little bit too uncomfortable outdoors to do any sort of strenuous exercise. cool conditions today. low pressure moves in as we head throughout the next 48 hours. it's going to sit and spin probably for the first part of the day, then take a hike out of here, impacting our weather, though, for today and tomorrow, with another day of kind of cool air mixing out. we'll hit the 80s tomorrow and then we'll be in the 90s friday into the weekend. so a quick warm-up on the way, but we're going to get, today, pret nice. tomorrow, not so bad. 76 degrees in san jose today. be about 85 degrees inland tomorrow. 91 degrees by friday. and then as we head into the weekend, temperatures do warm up. we are taking a closer look at fabio coming up, churning out there in the pacific this morning. that's for you, ladies. get ready for that. right now i'm going to send it back to you. >> now i get it! thank you. >> always a good day when you can reference fabio. it is 4:49 right now. okay, here's a question. would you be willing to pay a tax for every mile that you

drive? >> it might sound far fetched, but that's exactly what the metropolitan transportation department is considering. under the proposed system, drivers in all nine bay area counties would be taxed up to ten cents per mile traveled. the miles would be tracked by gps devices installed in vehicles. the plan is still in the early stages, but could raise as much as $15 million a day. i don't think a lot of people will like that one. >> $15 million a day. it sounds good, but when you start getting whacked for driving your miles, it's going to be painful. 4:50 right now. a last-minute security scramble ahead of the london olympics. how the head of security there explaining himself after coming up short staffed. plus, some bay area kids lend their voices to the olympic games. but this isn't their first big trip. we'll show you where else they've been. >> sing piit.

and a smooth drive from 580 to the tri-valley. i'll show you where there's quite a bit of activity going on in the south bay. coming up. [ female announcer ] with swiffer dusters, a great clean doesn't have to take longer. i'm done... i'm going to read one of these. i'm going to read one of these! [ female announcer ] unlike sprays and dust rags,

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all right. here we go. a little more than a week to go before the london olympic games. and organizers right now facing some last-minute trouble. >> the company hired to provide security for the games is now coming up short. the private security company, g4s was supposed to hire 10,000 security guards. last week, they admitted to

being at least 3,500 short. they also said that on any given day, they don't know how many employees will even show up. >> what? >> yeah, the british military and police have had to now step in to try to fill that gap made by the company. >> day by day, we started to realize that the pipeline and the people we thought we were going to be able to deliver, we couldn't. >> well, olympic organizers say despite the unexpected setback, the security of the games will not be compromised. >> let's hope not. >> yeah, no kidding. a bay area swimmer preparing for her third olympics. >> natalie coughlin has olympic gold medals racked up, already has 11 of them to her name. and in a few days, the 29-year-old trying to add another one. and she spoke to nbc's natalie morales. >> third olympics compared to the first olympics, do you train any differently? >> i train differently just because i'm older, but i have -- >> and wiser. >> wiser, much wiser. i train differently just because i need to focus on recovery

more. and i have way more power than i ever did eight years ago. >> well, coughlin, she'll be competing in that 4 x 100 freestyle over in london representing the red, white, and blue and you can see more of her interview coming up today on the "today" show starting at 7:00. now, nbc bay area, as you well know, is your home for exclusive olympic coverage. you can find pictures and profiles of all of our local athletes at nbcbayarea.com. including cal grad alicia montano who will read the 800 meters. just click on london 2012 and do that the on our home page. more bay area talent will be getting that spotlight in the opening days of the olympics, but not for sport. they'll be using their voices. ♪ >> that's the choir from benicia. they're leaving for london this morning to perform inside the

olympic stadium on opening day. last night the group held its final practice. >> it's an incredible honor and we're on one of their main stages and the kids -- i mean, everybody right now, we're getting so close now that everybody is talking with a higher pitched voice, because they're so excited. >> and they're kind of young. >> well, and you know what, though, they are not rookies. the children have performed in the white house, carnegie hall, japan, and south africa. >> excuse me! >> no kidding, jon kelly. get this, they actually sing in 21 different languages. quite the talent. >> singing, multi-lingual. that's impressive. i'll look forward to checking them out. let's check out the morning commute. what have you got, mike? >> i've performed in the bathroom, the shower, and sometimes the car. over here in the south bay, we have construction going on. a lot of crews southbound 85 at 237. down at stevens creek and also a

major concern, 280. either direction getting on to 85 southbound. that construction goes on, closing the off-ramp. you will make the transition by taking 85 north skploand loopin around at homestead, very easy, about a half-minute detour. and the dumbarton bridge, two lanes closed until about 5:30, 6:00, no slowing. easy drive along the peninsula as well. and a live look further north. there you go, san rafael, no problems through the north bay, guys. easy drive. back to you. >> thanks so much, mike. 4:57 right now. still ahead on today in the bay, a protest against california universities brings out the undead. what's happening at the uc regents building today. and a developing story in new york city. over 20 firefighters injured in a massive fire tearing through an apartment building. [ male announcer ] we got a real mom

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new this morning, imagine paying an extra ten cents for

every mile you drive. good morning. i'm marla tellez live on the road in the south bay. this story could become a reality here in the bay area. it's coming up. stay with us. zombie protests over the death of higher education. i'm bob redell. we'll take you live to san francisco. and we're here to help you get over the hump. wednesday morning, a great-looking forecast, 70s inland. we're talking about the 60s bayside. and upper 50s at the coast and much warmer weather. your full forecast is moments away. and i'm just helping you get over the bridge, which is a little easier now that the accident on the east shore freeway has cleared up in san pablo. i've got a look at the approach and the rest of your bay area commute coming up. well, i've got a look in the south bay this morning. taking a live look outside, waiting for the sun's arrival on this wednesday, july 18th. this is "today in the bay." good morning to you. thanks so much for joining us! r