good afternoon and thanks for joining us for this special 4:00 edition of nbc bay area news. i'm raj mathai. >> i'm janelle wang. we're on a little early because of the stanley cup finals on nbc bay area. we begin with one of the bay area's most notable and recognizable businessmen. tonight george zimmer is out of a job. >> the founder of the menswearhouse has been ousted by the board of directors. tv commercials from the fremont-based retailer won't be the same. the bigger issue -- why was the boss fired? it scott budman with this local story people can relate to. >> reporter: not much talk about this except for the result. as far the business goes, you can still buy suits and rent

tuxes. this was not a move made by a struggling company. no jobs are in jeopardy. for a bay area marketing legend, the future is suddenly cloudy. i can almost guarantee it. >> you're going to like the way you look, i guarantee it. >> reporter: it's a catch phrase that has been well suited to bring in shoppers for decades. now the man who launched men's wearhouse 40 years has been dismissed from the company he started. his adds are going to be remembered -- >> you're going to like the way you look. i guarantee it. everybody felt that. >> reporter: the head of a silicon valley marketing agency says the message will be tough to replace. >> there's going to be a deficit from that because his voice is gravelly and sexy and looks good to most women and probably a lot of guys, as well. he has been the brand of the company, and people have shopped there because of him. >> reporter: george zimmer released a statement admitting he argued with the company's

current leaders, saying, "instead of fostering the dialogue that contributed to our success, the board has inappropriately chosen to silence my concerns through termination." men's wearhouse also says, "the board expects to discuss with mr. zimmer the extent, if any, and terms of his ongoing relationship with the company." a sudden turn of events that's hard for either side to dress up. men's wearhouse has been doing verile when it comes to sales, and its stock prices have been strong lately. did take a hit on the news, losing about 1% of its value. raj? >> thank you very much. the questions continue from oakland to san jose. what now regarding the future of the as. after yesterday's bombshell announcement, business owners and baseball fans in the south bay are cautiously optimistic. san jose is hoping to move the

as to the south bay. kris sanchez has more. the as and a lot of businesses have been really in limbo for four years now. >> reporter: they've been waiting for a while. and in fact that fence that you see behind me could soon become the gateway to cisco field. that 32,000-seat stadium where the as could play without sharing any of the facilities with any other team. while they've been waiting to see what would happen, so have the business leaders. they've been watching the weeds grow in all of these lots near downtown san jose. they're hoping that soon they'll be wavering the turf grow. >> if the as move in, that's another 81 days out of the year that you know that you'll have a packed house. >> reporter: at the poor house bistro, the proposed as' stadium site is so close they can see it through the windows. while the owner would love to see the as come to town and play those 81 home games, he's happy the city of san jose's lawsuit against major league baseball and the commissioner will force a decision either way. >> for me as a business owner, i look at a five-year projection,

and it's hard project anything if you have something major as a baseball stadium moving next door. >> reporter: if the stadium goes up, midori might build out and add staff. he won't take on the expense otherwise. while business owners and fans wait, the city is sitting on parcels of property that could otherwise be making money. >> what other higher and best use could that land be used for? we're sitting here waiting, not making decisions on projects that could be put there. >> reporter: each year cost the city $1.5 million in new tax revenue for san jose's general fund and $3.5 million for other agencies like school districts. add to that what the stadium construction would bring. $96 million in new construction costs, 980 jobs, and $130 million in ballpark spending per year. supporters of the stadium echo the message in the lawsuit. the time for baseball in san jose is now. >> i can't think that it's -- that land is going to sit

available forever. it's just not. the private market is just not going allow that to happen. >> reporter: now major league baseball commissioner bud selig has a few weeks before he has to respond to the lawsuit. a lot of legal expert and insiders expect that it will be in his best interests to avoid a trial and that instead mlb will said with san jose out of court. in san jose, kris sanchez, nbc bay area news. they are called the landlords from hell. now the san francisco couple will be heading to prison. san francisco district attorney george gas con said kip and nicole macy pleaded guilty to charges of burglary, stalking, and attempted grand theft. prosecutors said the charges stemmed from 2005 to 2008 when the macys attempted to drive out their tenants from their four-unit building in the city's south end market district. prosecutors said the couple glued tenants' locks, dumped ammonia on their belongings, and even sawed holes in the floor and the support beams. the macys were indicted by a

grand jury in 2009 but fled to italy. they were extradited last month to stand trial. >> this is obviously an extreme case of really, you know, landlords just going completely out of their way to get some things out of the building. >> the couple faces four years in prison when they're sentenced this august. kip macy's attorney refused to comment. the attorney for nicole macy says she is extremely sorry and remorseful. on the eve of the bay area remere of the critically acclaimed oscar grant move, bart's announcing reforms to the department. the reforms came in the wake of the fatal police shooting in 2009 when oscar grant was gunned down at the fruitveil station. patrick oliver will gauge the progress in several areas in the three years since kenton rainy took over as the current police chief. some of the key areas include officer training, use of force, and internal affairs. >> we're further along than what

i expected. done some thing i didn't expect we would be able to do, but certainly there's some things i wish we had made more progress on, and we haven't. >> rainey says he will join special guests at the grand lake theater tomorrow for the movie. findings from the assessment are expected to be completed by this september. it may be mild outside, but conditions are dangerous. we want to take you outside. a live look at san jose. you can see the trees blowing. it's windy out there, not just wind gusts but sustained winds making the potential for fires incredibly high. chief meteorologist jeff ranieri will break down the danger. we begin with nbc bay area's jodi hernandez on what fire crews are doing to prepare for the fire dangers. jodi? >> reporter: fire crews are doing all they can to gear up for whatever this fire season may bring. crews in contra costa spent the day in antioch on a controlled burn. you see the crews are just coming in. this hillside is blackened tonight. now experts are also warning

that we can expect fires to ignite easier and faster this year than we're used to. >> what we're seeing is we're seeing burning conditions in june that we normally would see in august and september. >> reporter: that's got firefighters in contra costa county on their toes. firefighters spent the day practicing their mobile attack techniques and fighting fire with fire. as they removed dangerous brush from several hundred acres of undeveloped property in antioch. >> what we've done is we've turned this into a training opportunity so our folks can come out and get practice. >> reporter: and they'll likely need it. firefighters say another rain-light winter has left the bay area with drier than normal vegetation. add the recent windy weather we've been experiencing plus cutbacks in fire personnel bay area-wide, the fire season could be disastrous. >> all it take is one spark, and you can have a very serious

fire. >> reporter: and firefighters have already seen plenty of action. grass fires have been flaring up across the bay area at a pretty steady rate. in fact, solano county saw two of them just yesterday. >> they've been small fires. we've been able to get them while they're small. we haven't had anything go real large on us yet. >> reporter: that could change at any time, and firefighters are determined to be ready. we're back here live. crews are just coming in after a day on a controlled burn in antioch. crews will bed out for the next couple of days train -- will be out here for the next couple of days training and conducting controlled burns. we're told the vegetation is much drier than it normally is for this time of year. in fact, a fuel advisory has now been issued. reporting live in contra costa county, jodi hernandez, nbc bay area news. >> okay. thank you. last night we had that fire

at the motel 6 in fairfield. let's bring in our chief meteorologist jeff ranieri from the weather center. a look at where the wind will be specifically whipping up this fire danger. >> yeah. right now we've got it from the north bay to the south bay. here's a look at the top wind gusts we've experienced across the bay. sunset district at 41. petaluma, 26. mountainview, 25. no doubt we've had more small fires this year than all of last year together. that's for sure. now we're starting to see these fires crop up a lot easier, as jodi was mentioning, due to the fact that we're so dry. right now one of the dryiest calendar years ever on record, we are from seven to 13 inches below where we should be for 2013. that is astonishing when you think about how much rainfall we did not get at the start of this year. so there are three main factors that will continue to increase that fire threat as we head throughout this summer. not only the fact that we're so dry, but the past three years alone there hasn't been any large major fire seasons. so there's plenty of fuel out

there to burn, and then we also have all of california currently under a drought. coming up in that forecast, we have showers in that seven day. we'll detail when that could arrive and more on the fire threat coming up. still ahead, a fire risk inside your laptop? new concerns and a recall over mac books. plus -- >> reporter: obesity is a disease. that's the new designation by the american medical association. i'm marianne favro. coming up, i'll look at how it may impact your own battle to lose weight. some local teenagers learning how to become journalists. a new change at the capitol could mean a big loss for the public.

one of the most powerful animals journalism might be eliminated. as part of the new budget, governor brown appears ready to sign a bill that would effectively eliminate the state's public records act. the bill would make it nearly impossible for news organizations like nbc bay area to uncover corruption and other

crimes by public agencies. nbc's dayan trujillo joins us from the public library where a national group is getting involved. >> reporter: we spoke to two groups today. a group of teenagers who want to be journalists, and a group of teenagers who want to tell a difference between good journalism and bad journalism. today critics say both of those groups would be hurt if this bill is signed by the governor. >> our first couple are going to be on the first amendment. >> reporter: daisy long wants to be a good news consumer. so the news lit ranking project out of chicago is trying to give her the tools in this two-week boot tamp. >> the idea is that we want to teach young people how to distinguish between fact and fiction. >> reporter: and chances are as they grow up, this group of students will be getting their news from another group of teenagers across town. they are in a two-week boot camp called the mosaic project. that's teaching them how to become good journalists.

>> we are giving them a taste of real journalism. >> we ask questions -- >> reporter: joel rodriguez is a veteran newspaper reporter. today he worries about losing a powerful tool in his toolbox. state lawmakers are on the verge of nullifying several mandatory provisions of the california public records act. >> it's a way for governments to be greedy or overzealous or just plain sloppy and lazy. and we as journalists need to put their feet to the fire. to protect citizens, taxpayers, and our -- our democracy. >> reporter: lawmakers say the move would save the state tens of millions of dollars in time spent collecting documents journalists request as part of their investigations. this is only a small sampling of the records nbc bay area's investigative unit obtained over

the past year through the public records act. e-mail and phone records of local and state agencies that either hid or overlooked important public information. >> we need to know what powerful people are doing. >> reporter: there is some breaking news on this story. we've learned that the state assembly speaker has introduced an amendment to this bill. the new amendment would remove all reference to the public record act of the current bill. now in his words, speaker perez says, "this means that the california public records act will remain intact without any changes as part of this budget." that amendment will be taken up by the assembly tomorrow. no matter what happens, the mayor's office in san jose and the city manager's office says nothing will change. they will still provide all information and be as transparent as possible. we're live in san jose, damian trujillo, nbc bay area news. >> thank you. it is an important issue for journalists. how about a pay raise now. in sacramento, a commission just granted lawmakers a 5% pay

increase. this essentially reinstates a salary cut that they took last year as parts part of a statewide furugh program. lawmakers will make $95,000 and the governor paid $174,000 annually. a pit bull mix has been euthanized a day after killing a 6-year-old union city boy. the 2-year-old male named kava had been quarantined at the tricity animal shelter in fremont before it was put down. the decision to put the dog down was a mutual one between all parties involved. the dog belonged to the boy's uncle. as of now, no one has been charged. the boy was playing with kava in his uncle's back yard when the pit bull attacked him, biting him in the head. he was transported to the hospital where he died from his injuries. in "health matters," a new decision by the american medical association to classify obesity as a disease could mean major changes for millions of us. nbc bay area's marianne favro joins us with a look at the potential impact here.

>> reporter: this is significant because it could change the way doctors and insurance companies treat and cover obese patients. think about it -- if obesity is a disease, you may one day have insurance cover your weight loss program as part of prevention. by the year 2030, the centers for disease control estimates 42% of all americans will be obese. now the american medical association weighs in saying obesity should be classified as a disease. dr. rahina ashaw, director of the weight loss management program at kaiser, san jose, says the decision is long overdue. she says it will help doctors deal with obesity as a problem just as significant as heart disease and diabetes. >> obesity, as you know, causes hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, strokes, sleep apnea. but we end up sometimes telling our patients to lose weight as a secondary statement. and we will treat the high blood pressure and the diabetes, but

we don't spend enough time dealing with obesity as a primary diagnosis. >> reporter: she says recognizes obesity as a disease will help patients. >> this will take away stigma and discrimination that is associated with obesity as a problem. it is a medical problem, and the sooner we recognize this, the more we can do for this. >> reporter: she also says the move to consider obesity a disease may also prompt insurance companies to cover weight loss programs and treatments. the doctor hopes the ama's decision will also make it easier for policymakers to do more to curb obesity and get government to conduct more research into the growing problem. many doctors think this move will actually help reduce overall health costs here in the u.s. if more doctors tackle obesity as a disease, that could mean fewer people diagnosed with diseases linked direct three obesity such as heart disease and diabetes. marianne favro, nbc bay area news. >> okay. thanks. >> thanks. let's bring in jeff ranieri

now, take a look at the windy forecast and our fire concern. >> yeah. the wind right now is starting to turn more out of the north. that is increasing our fire concern. also the temperatures here across the south bay and the east bay for today, you see it's sustained from 10 to 20 miles per hour in sunnyvale, san jose. livermore, a little bit less. we're starting to see winds generally calm down for tomorrow. temperatures are going to continue to go up. that slight turn in those winds out of the north did help livermore to warm up to 79. alsossistant rosa at 79 -- santa rosa at 79. by friday, the first full day of summer, we're expecting a ten-degree jump in temperatures. not only in livermore but a decent jump for oakland. you're going to be able to see the result of this warmer air building in on our first look at our thursday forecast. not too much cloud cover tonight usually with the heat event. it stays pretty clear. sometimes even at the coastline. as you head throughout tomorrow morning, cloud cover. by 11:00 a.m., mainly clear, low 70s inland.

let's get outside to the sky camera network. windy in san jose with the elevated fire danger. also humidities in the 20% to 30% range this afternoon. in san francisco, as the hot air builds in offshore, it's also tightening up the temperature gradient. and you see the camera shaking around quite a bit pointed toward the tower and alcatraz. the surge of summer heat will move in because this cool pattern we've had for the past two to three days going to kick to the east. high pressure's going to build off the pacific. it's going to be good enough to keep us out of the "hot" category. stay with warm. doesn't look like any triple digits coming our way as we head throughout the next two to three days. on the fog factor forecast, we can expectnology for the north bay counties. most at the immediate coastline san francisco to santa cruz. here's the good news for the tri-valley, also for san jose, not expecting really anything in the way of widespread cloud cover for tomorrow morning. however, we will keep a little bit of cloud cover here up against the coastline. if you're headed to the beach, you should get rays of sun and cloud cover, as well.

temperatures on thursday will go just a little bit warmer. 77 in san jose. 80 in morgan hill. 81 in gilroy. we'll see some of the most widespread heat back in the east bay. as some the onshore flow get turned off, temperatures will warm up. livermore, 81. 80 in walnut creek. 71 in berkeley. 75 in oakland. 69 in san francisco. the heat continues all the way through saturday. then take a look at this -- on that seven-day forecast, huge changes welcomed with the fire threat. we now have a 40% to 50% chance of showers as we head throughout next monday and tuesday. not a large storm. back in the weather office, we're counting every drop. and i mean it. we've got a bucket. weaver waiting. >> yeah. fill it up. thanks. coming up, fashion icons donning pin its stripstripes. what the sentencing could mean for a legendary name in fashion. a rare blemish for tesla. why the bay area-based company is apologizing tonight.

they're not in trouble with the fashion police, but they are in trouble with the law. fashion design duo dolce and gabbana are accused of hiding more than a billion euros of income from tax authorities in italy. they were sentenced to a year and eight months in prison, but that sentence was suspended. so they are free while they consider an appeal. the case dates back to 2004. dolce and gabbana denies the charges. another first for palo alto-based tesla, but not a good one. tesla announced the first recall. the company let the world know about the recall via twitter, of course. there's a seat latch problem. tessler's founder said more than 1,200 of the model s cars are affected. tesla has not received customer complaints or injuries, but owners will be contacted in the next few days. here's how this recall will work. in true tesla style, the company will come get your car, drop off a loaner, then return your fixed car within a few hours. and best buy is recalling

5,100 replacement batteries for the mac book pro because they are considered a fire risk. the u.s. consumer product safety commission says there have been 13 report of batteries catching fire. one person even suffered a serious burn on the leg. best buy says the batteries were sold on line or shipped to customers through its geek squad services from september, 2008, through june of 2012. and if you want to see which models are being recalled, go to our web site, nbcbayarea.com, and search "best buy." when we return, a notable graduation tonight in the east bay. stay with us.

it's a story about beating the odds. tonight, a special graduation for more than 100 african-american men. the ceremony will include this young man. 18-year-old tyler griffin. he's a part of the brotherhood, an umbrella organization where foundations get together to help finance graduates so they can go on to college. about 150 black men from almost every school in the bay area

will be a part of the ceremony tonight. griffin just graduated from berkeley high, and the brotherhood helped him get there. >> if you come from east oakland, you're really making something out of yourself, you're powerful. you're the most powerful person in like all the world. like you're kind of like your own superman. >> a lot of supermen out there. the graduation will take flais oakland museum. begins at 6:00 this evening. just about 90 minutes from now. we'll have a full report on the celebration on our special primetime newscast this evening. the reason we were on at 4:00 today is because of the stanley cup finals. some of your favorite nbc bay area programming is being moved. nightly news follows this broadcast, then game on between the bruins and blackhawks. it's game four. nbc bay area news returns after the game and is followed by "access hollywood" and "extra," "dateline" starts at 10:00. and we will be back here for nbc bay area news at 11:00. >> enjoy the game. we'll see you back here at 11:00. of course, at 8:00 for our primetime edition, as well.

good night. >> good night, folks. feeling the heat. in sweltering temperatures behind the bullet proof glass, a different reception for barack obama in berlin. falling apart. startling new warnings about the bridges that millions of us drive across every day. and the state of disrepair they are finding across the country. >> the conspiracy theory about an american tragedy. twa flight 800. what to make of the charges of government coverup? the real-life drama we saw portrayed in a mob movie. the sensational trialing gripping the city of boston. "nightly news" begins now.