a warning for women in palo alto this morning after yet another attempted sexual assault. i'm christie smith. coming up in a live report, we'll tell you where it's happening exactly and what women should know. and a firefighter who collapsed on the job while fighting a fire is actually released from the hospital. we will be on scene to see and hear the latest. mitt romney about ready to make his way to the bay area. what he's doing to try to swayback voters. and right now we give you a live look outside. look at that over san francisco. picturesque, snap a shot, put it on a postcard. it is thursday, september 20th. this is "today in the bay."

almost 4:31 on the nose. good morning, everybody. i am jon kelley. glad to have you with us. >> and i'm laura garcia-cannon. let's check the forecast right now with christina loren -- well, you look a little different. no, rob is in for christina this week with cooler temperatures. habit. >> it's cold out there, look at that, low 40s with clear skies in santa rosa. a little patchy fog in napa so bundle up as you head outdoors and send your kids off to school this morning. highs today 60s and 70s, so the cool temperatures continue. but tomorrow it looks a little warmer. the valleys getting back into the 80s and turning breezy as we go through the weekend. >> we're looking at the bay bridge toll plaza, folks. you see there's not a lot as far as the volume of traffic, easy drive. also down the east shore freeway approaching the toll plaza. let me show you the map with all the approaches which are moving smoothly in your commute direction but away from the bridge, eastbound 80 at ashby.

there's an accident in the final clearing stages so watch for flashing lights as you approach that area. that's state route 13. no slowing shows up on our sensors, but i'll track it. back to you. a big-time warning for joggers on the peninsula after a groper has struck in one of the nicest neighborhoods in the bay area. >> it's not the first time and police are concerned because he's getting bolder. nbc bay area's christie smith joins us live from the area where he was last seen. police actually have specific advice for joggers out there. good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you, laura. that's right. this latest attack happened right about where we're standing on this trail. you can see how isolated it is. investigators concerned for a number of reasons. this may be related to two other attacks and it appears that this guy may be getting more bold. there are signs along the trail this morning in palo alto near the stanford shopping center. yesterday morning a 20-year-old woman was judging when out of

nowhere a man grabbed her from behind and tried to pull her down. fortunately, she was able to get away but there are some sketches from two other sexual assaults that happened in the same area and investigators believe this could be the same person responsible for all of these incidents. he is described as middle eastern or hispanic, 5'9". >> it's the highest priority for us to apprehend this guy and get him behind bars because we're worried that his behavior is getting increasingly dangerous. >> reporter: so there are a number of things that you can do. police reminding people not to jog with head phones or ear buds, at least in both ears. carry a cell phone and try to jog with a friend if you can. police did search the area yesterday, didn't find him. but again, we are out here live this morning and we have already seen a couple of women jogging alone. police reminding anything if you do see anything suspicious to give them a call. christie smith, "today in the bay." we have new details in a

massive gas fire at an east bay gas station. we're learning more about what actually caused this fire. you can see a car backing up right into a gas pump at this station in martinez. that pump immediately catching fire. as soon as the station manager saw what was going on, he made the right move, a very quick decision that likely kept the fire from killing somebody. >> there was actually a lady parked in front of him standing there pumping her gas when everything happened and as soon as i saw the smoke, i ran out, hit the emergency shutout switch and started screaming at the top of my lungs, everybody get the hell out of here. luckily they listened. everybody took off and ran. >> firefighters add if the station manager had not turned that fuel off, that fire would have been almost impossible to control. police are now investigating this crash and they say it does appear that the driver mistakenly pressed the accelerator instead of the brake. new this morning, a san jose firefighter whose heart stopped

while she was fighting a fire at a catholic church has now been released from the hospital. frank ryan was released from regional medical center yesterday. the 41-year-old suffered a heart attack while battling a fire at st. patrick's cathedral in downtown san jose last month. doctors say his fellow firefighters saved his life. those same firefighters have been keeping an around-the-clock vigil at the hospital as he recovered. four people, including one under the age of 18, has been seriously injured after two separate shootings overnight in oakland. right now the people who pulled that trigger are still on the loose. officers say three adults were shot at about 11:20 on seminary avenue next to mills college. two of those victims are right now in stable condition. the third one is in serious condition. just over an hour later after thein dent, four miles south a separate shooting near a best western on macon road left a juvenile in serious condition.

no word on a motive for either shooting. the family of a teenager shot and killed by a south san francisco police officer will hold a vigil today on what would have been the boy's 16th birthday. derrick gaines was shot at a gas station back in june after police say that he reached for a gun that had fallen out of his waist band. investigators determined the gun was not loaded. the department has ruled it a justifiable shooting. the teen's family disagrees and has filed suit against the city. the rally and march starts at 4:00 this afternoon at the arco gas station where gaines was shot. now on the latest details on the embassy attack that killed former ambassador chris stevens. secretary of state hillary clinton denying the united states had any advance warning of that attack. libyan officials said they warned an attack was imminent days before it happened. the country's interim president telling npr his government had

received information on a group linked to al qaeda. the u.s. state department said it never received any information about a potential threat. clinton is expected today to brief congress on this investigation. meantime one of the actresses who starred in the controversial anti-islamic film that sparked all those violent protests in libya and more than a dozen other countries is suing that film's producer and youtube. cindy lee garcia said she's been getting the film hit the internet. she filed a lawsuit against the filmmaker yesterday for fraud, slander and emotional distress. garcia says the filmmaker lied to her about the movie, saying it was a historical arabian desert adventure film. 4:37. the suspect accused of killing 12 people inside a colorado movie theater could face more charges today. prosecutors are expected to file ten additional charges against suspected gunman james holmes this morning. according to the "denver post"

holmes is already facing more than 140 various charges of murder and attempted murder in connection with the theater shooting that killed a dozen people and wounded 58 others last july. turning to decision 2012, tomorrow mitt romney returning to the bay area for a private fund-raiser just days after a secret recording of another fund-raiser went public. that recording included several controversial comments describing hundreds of thousands of americans as victims. romney will be in hillsborough on friday at the strawberry hill estate. tickets, as you can expect, very pri pricey, as high as $50,000 a person. the guest list includes meg whitman, former giants owner peter mcgowan, sun microsystems co-founder scott mcneeley and former secretary of state george schultz. the "chronicle" reporting the media will be banned from the event. in the meantime romney is attempting to use old recordings

of president obama to refocus his message on the campaign trail. the romney camp is accusing the president of favoring redistribution of wealth using a 1998 recording of then state senator barack obama talking about making government more efficient. here's a clip from that video. >> i think the trick is figuring out how do we structure government systems that pool resources and, hence, facilitate summary distribution because i actually believe in redistribution, at least at a certain level, to make sure that everybody has got a shot. >> many have described that suggestion as socialist. both candidates are in florida today participating in televised spanish language forums courting the critically important hispanic votes. >> it's all very much gamesmanship. it's all on. 4:39. let's send it over to rob

mayeda. >> we're going to see temperatures starting to warm up but not the case this morning. they have dropped off into the low 40s across most of the north bay this morning. definitely feeling more like fall, even though we still have at least a couple days of summer left on the calendar. notice the wind speeds too. southwest wind at 15. not as strong as the last few mornings into fairfield and that's one of the signs we'll see warmer weather. the sea breeze will weaken slightly today. so coastal clouds through the day, inland sunshine just like yesterday, friday still looks to be the warmest day we'll see as we move into the weekend. right now the satellite/radar kind of interesting. we're seeing some clouds coming up out of the south and for the morning once again the story is the patchy low clouds inland, going back to the coastline during the afternoon, and our temperatures still very mild for this time of year. hour by hour, 60s through lunchtime and 60s to upper 70s inland, so another cool day around the bay area.

tomorrow a little warmer, we should see mid-80 and turning breezy and cooler this weekend. we're looking over to the bay bridge, which still light volume. but we will look at the maps to show you where we are talking about the accident now clearing. we see some slowing off of west 580 heading up toward ashby avenue. chp cleared it from their reports. we should see that slowdown clear up as well. a mild tapping of the brakes as you pass through the construction zones both directions for 880 between 980 and 16. not a major concern but it's there as you pass through downtown. a live look shows you what it's like past the coliseum. pretty light volume of traffic north toward the area. there is the san mateo bridge on the peninsula side. light volume here. i'll show you the peninsula in the next report coming up. >> we'll look forward to that. thanks, mike. up next, space shuttle "endeavour" heading right here in the bay area. we'll show you some of the best places you can sneak a peek and

get a great glimpse as it flies over landmarks. plus focus on a fremont teenager. focus on much more than just homework. why an 18-year-old college student is running for mayor of his hometown.

and right now you are looking live from houston at the space shuttle "endeavour" bolted on top of a 747. less than 20 minutes from now the space shuttle will continue its long and winding journey from florida to l.a. and denver. it spent the night right there in houston and today will be making low-level flyovers at the white sands test facility and other nasa locations in new mexico. that's before finally landing at edwards air force base in southern california. now, "endeavour" will also make a high-profile appearance in the skies above the bay area tomorrow morning. that visit will include a fly-by over the golden gate bridge. that should be very smooth. and moffett field as a very special tribute to workers at nasa ames research center. scientists trained shuttle astronauts, designed the shuttle snooit and perfected the heat shield. >> we feel at ames that we were

the birth place, the cradle for where the space shuttle grew up and developed. so we're very proud that it's going to come back here to pay tribute to that work at ames. >> all those workers out there definitely expecting a lot of company with them. as many as 10,000 people are expected to gather to check out that spectacular flyover. organizers of course warning of some delays in traffic in mountain view and along the embarcadero, so be aware. the fly-by is expected between 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. we also have a few other places to check out where you can catch a glimpse of the shuttle. bob redell will have more on that coming up in a live report in our next half hour. well, groupon is ready to face off against paypal by launching its own payment service. the new service allows businesses to process credit cards using an iphone or ipod touch. groupon payments is aimed at businesses that offer deals through groupon but a test

program is allowing other merchants to take advantage of the service as well. groupon is the latest company to dive into the growing market for paying by credit card. a drop in oil prices may sound good but it wasn't so good for investors. we turn to seema mody who's live at cnbc headquarters. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, laura. that's exactly right. futures slightly lower today after the markets eked out a small gain on wednesday. investors did get good news from the housing sector as existing home sales rose much more than expected last month but a drop in oil prices weighed on stocks after the government reported a big increase in u.s. inventories. asia and europe are lower after reports showed manufacturing slowed this month in china and the eurozone. we do get data this morning on unemployment, manufacturing and a survey on business conditions in the philadelphia area. now, the dow did rise 13 points to 13,577.

the nasdaq up nearly 5 points to close at 3182. let's get stock specific, though. bank of america is reportedly planning to cut 16,000 jobs by the end of the year. the "wall street journal" said b of a is heating up its cost-cutting measures by a year with the goal of cutting its staff by 30,000 people. it would shrink the company workforce below jpmorgan chase and wells fargo. the company has also let go some of its less experienced investment bankers. that's the news we are watching. laura, back to you. >> thank you, seema. 4:48 right now. christina is off so rob is here. how are you hanging on this morning shift? >> as long as the coffee keeps flowing. >> you need like an i.v. to stay up. >> the weather was kind of chilly outside. that snapped me awake this morning. especially if you're in the north bay, you're waking up to low 40s outside right now. how about 43 degrees in santa rosa. the dew point temperature is 40, which means there is still some room to drop a little more

chilly before sunrise this morning. 45 right now in napa. there you see across the rest of the bay area mostly low 50s with patchy low clouds. the winds not quite as strongly onshore. i did see low clouds just to the west of livermore. southwest winds at 15 into fairfield. those onshore winds will back up a little bit which will lead to warming for our inland valley. fog not too much of a problem, maybe some patchy areas of fog setting up for the morning commute in the north bay. chilly start in the north bay. we'll be looking at coastal clouds, inland valley sunshine and a bit warmer come tomorrow. satellite/radar view looks pretty quiet except we have this area of low pressure that has been sitting offshore that's going to sweep in during the weekend and bring our temperatures down again. storm track way off to the north. you can see it on the water vapor loop steering way up to the north of seattle and portland. we're looking at temperatures mainly affected by the low clouds. not any storms coming our way. you can see the low clouds

inland across the bay turning to sunshine inland across the afternoon and low clouds will come sweeping back in tomorrow morning. temperatures staying very mild. upper 60s to near 70 around san jose. warmest place is around the east bay, approaching 80 around pleasanton, otherwise 70s. 63 for san francisco, 68 degrees in oakland. so tomorrow a little bit warmer inland and then as fall gets started on saturday heading into sunday, it's going to be breezy and cooler. if you're heading to the sierra, we'll see thunderstorms there this weekend with a cool start to next week which is, of course, the first week of fall. back to you. well, with the upcoming election close at hand, an east bay city we can tell you is gaining a lot of attention. voters in fremont must decide who will be the next mayor on that november ballot. right now there are five candidates for the job but one of them getting a whole lot of buzz. that's him right there, an 18-year-old is running against

four other very experienced politicians. now, this young man may be very young, but he points out he's been active in politics for years. >> like four years ago when he was running -- >> you were 14. >> right. but i've been involved in local politics since i was about 8 or 9 years old. >> he's been reading the paper and keeping up with the elections if he was 2. now, if he wins the mayor's race, he would not only be the youngest mayor ever elected to fremont but also the city's very first of south asian descent. >> good for him for going at it. >> at 18 i was just happy i had a driver's license. >> and a girlfriend, huh some. 4:51. tw two-ply tissue with a lot of softness and a lot of ink. >> people had nothing else to do but read. >> how college students are turning toilet paper into ad

space. >> that's weird. well, looking like, you know what, things are moving very nicely over here at fremont past the truck scales. we'll give you a look at the peninsula coming up. have you heard of the new dialing procedure for the 408 and 669 area codes? no, what is it? starting october 20, 2012,

if you have a 408 or 669 number, you'll need to dial 1 plus the area code plus the phone number for all calls. o.k., but what if i have an 408 number and i'm calling a 408 number? you'll still need to dial 1 plus the area code plus the phone number. so when in doubt, dial it out!

good morning. 4:54. we'll take a look here. san jose moves smoothly. light volume of traffic so i'll take you to the maps and show you where things are just starting to build west 580 in toward livermore. no major issues.

speeds still up around 60. here we're looking at east 24. we have two incident markers but it looks like one accident, east 24 approaching that northbound 680 connector ramp. it sounds like a pickup truck is either on its side or its roof. chp will give us an update once they arrive and let us know if there's any serious injuries. right now no major slowing. lots of flashing lights likely over the next few. look at the peninsula as well. we're looking at lights flashing through the construction zone but that's off of the roadway. 101 moves smoothly past university in both directions as you see right here and a smooth drive between here and the city. back to you. a $10,000 cello back in the hands of its rightful owner this morning. >> i'm more shocked than i am when it was stolen. i didn't believe it would come back this fast. >> it did. the instrument was taken from an unlocked storage locker at the san francisco conservator of music on sunday. security cameras captured

footage of a man and a woman believed to be responsible for that theft. a security guard says he found the cello leaning against the stage door of the war memorial opera house late monday night but didn't realize it had been stolen until the story got out yesterday. as of now, no arrests have been made. we see advertisements just about every where these days. newspapers, smartphone apps, and now thanks to a michigan man, on toilet paper. >> that's right. she said toilet paper. 22-year-old jordan silverman came up with this idea while, of course, sitting in a bathroom at the university of michigan. the ads are printed right on those sheets of toilet paper. some of them even have qr codes that if you have time or desire you can scan your phone to get a coupon. of course as always you've got to keep the essentials in mind. >> high quality two-ply, imprinted with ink. softness for toilet paper is important for people so we try

to make sure that's comfortable. >> oh, that's comforting. silverman makes all the money by selling the ad space and gives toilet paper free to the venues, no cost at all. now he's looking to expand that business nationwide. i don't care what that ink is made off, that's just a bizarre thought. >> that's weird. 4:57 right now. still ahead on "today in the bay" it's the news everybody has been praying for. a very big update on the condition of a san jose firefight whose heart stopped while battling a fire last month.

a warning for parents at a local school after a man is seen trying to coax kids into his car. and we're looking at some cool temperatures to start off this morning, but some warming finally ahead in your seven-day forecast. we'll have a look at that coming up. and it's early, but i'm already tra