we're learning new details about the priest who was beaten to death in his northern california church. how he impacted the lives of thousands of people in the bay area. >> and stranded. cold weather leaves hundreds of travelers stuck inside amtrak trains, frozen to the tracks. >> how the deep freeze in the midwest is making some people very happy. the side effect of the dangerous weather next. >> a live look outside right now. and you can see the bay bridge, you can see the still waters. we have a nice day on the way, we have everything you need to get going on this tuesday, january 7th, this is "today in the bay." good morning everyone. happy tuesday.

it's 4:30. i'm terry mcsweeney. >> i'm laura garcia-cannon. let's check that forecast. >> it's pretty comfortable compared to where we have been waking up. good morning to you, terry, laura, everybody at home. you made it flew the first day back to work. temperatures today are going to start to drop off. kind of the same as yesterday. we're talking about the mid-60s in the warmest cities across the bay area with changes on the way. i'm tracking showers, the chance looks more impressive for the south bay. i'll show you where and when those come in. coming up good morning to mike inouye. >> good morning. we'll look here toward the bay bridge toll plaza. we had an early start to the backup. things let up early. more folks back in town. we'll check on that. the map shows a smooth drive. we'll expect good crowds through richmond and emeryville later on. the concern is east, we have northbound antioch bridge, 1

santa barbara 60 north across to the north bay, closed from overnight road work. you can take the alternate that's way east and around but you might as well stick it out for 20 minutes. we'll track it and that should be a shorter drive than the alternate. back to you. >> thanks, mike. happening today t two men accused of brutally beating bryan stow outside dodger stadium in 2011 return to court in a few hours. a preliminary hearing for the two expected to start about 8:30. in 2012 the men pleaded not guilty to multiple counts, bryan stow, a south bay paramedic suffered a serious head injury during the attack, spent two years in the hospital and rehab and recently moved into his parents' home. we'll have a live report. also back in court t man accused of setting a fire at the chinese consulate in san francisco. yen feng turned himself in after

this video began circulating. a defense attorney will likely be appointed. he is a chinese national. according to documents he said he targeted the consulate because he was hearing voices in chinese. >> we're learning the priest who was beaten to death on new year's day has ties to the bay area. reverend freed spent three years as a chaplain in mountain view. his body was found in the rectory at st. bernard's church on january 1. police have arrested gary bullok for the murder. st. francis will hold a memorial mass on sunday at brothers chapel at the high school at 11:00 a.m. father freed also served as the pastor vicar at the st. joseph church in cotati.

>> experts say high profile kidnappings can lead to an increase and increase in the reporting of these crimes. at the workshop they talk of a couple of current cases in both of these cases the women got away and reported the incidents to police, both inspired to do so by friday's high profile kidnapping in antioch. that's where a 7-year-old girl was kidnapped, then rescued. officers say such a case can also lead to more kidnappings. >> generally, when we have a crime there will sometimes be either copycat crimes or we're more attune to it. >> filing a report helps get the suspect off the street and gives police access to entire families who may need help coping with the traumatic event. >> there is a blanket of cold air over most of the nation. meteorologists say it's from the north pole dipping into parts of the country that are usually much warmer.

the deep freeze stopped three amtrak trains, 80 miles west of chicago. trapping more than 500 passengers aboard. the tracks were closed due to snow blowing across the tracks. passengers have food and heat. they may have been better off than thousand who is are without power and warmth. more than 61 million have been asked to conserve electricity. tracie potts is in the middle of it all, to show us how people are coping. >> reporter: it's actually warmer in minneapolis this morning, 33 below zero with the wind chill. minnesota's got some of the coldest temperatures in the nation today. the midwest frost come-ons top of record snow that closed indiana's major interstate, several counties are in a state of emergency. in milwaukee, power crews are out in it trying to keep the lights on. >> just got to do your job. >> reporter: the arctic

hurricane known as a polar vortex dipped into the deep south causing power outages in dallas and snow in georgia. >> i've been out sweeping and just kind of cleaning some of this off of my car. >> pretty fun tee see people all bundled up. >> reporter: shelters opened in atlanta. >> there is no way you can survive living out there in a tent with this kind of cold weather. >> even if you sit in a choir with a blanket at least you're out of the elements and you'll stay warm. >> reporter: almost 2,000 cancellations already today. levi has been stuck in denver's airport for three days. >> to stay up all night, 24/7 and wait and hope that i get out of here. and hasn't happened yet. >> reporter: jetblue hopes to get back in the air after shutting down completely in new york and boston, all over the u.s. it feels like mother nature left the refrigerator door open. guess who is thrilled about

that? students. parts of 13 midwest states closed their schools yesterday and many are expected to be closed again today. from washington, i'm tracie potts, nbc news. >> jetblue cancellations caused ripple effects across the country. packed with travelers waiting for word when they get to fly. most not pleased with how jetblue handled it all. >> while the delays are bad news for travelers, good news for local businesses. hotels near sfo say they are enjoying extra guests, managers say capacity fluctuates with what's going on at the airport and right now hotels are packed. more guests and rooms means mor customers at local bars and restaurants and using taxi service. >> you may want to get home but really, bay area is going to have great weather. >> you are such an optimist. >> good morning to you. not long but if you are stuck here today what a beautiful day. thanks for waking up with us.

happy you're joining us on a tuesday morning, back to work, back to school. and temperatures this morning aren't too frigid. you'll notice from the live picture of san francisco it is mostly clear out there although we are expecting the fog to develop throughout the day. temperatures, though, look at these. very mild yet again. 60 degrees in san francisco, 65 for the north bay, 63 along the peninsula and the south bay about 64. remember, your seven-day forecast here at the bottom of the screen. if you wonder about the next couple days look where we're headed. down, down, down. morgan hill 60 tomorrow. down to 59 by thursday with showers in the forecast as well for the whole bay area so. i'm going to show you where and when in my next report. good morning to mike inouye. >> i'm not going to complain. we need the rain and also compared to the midwest, goodness, we have it good. looking toward the bay bridge, a smooth drive, the taillights going by flashing lights. you're losing a lane, maybe two,

that tunnel there. but the crew should be cleared by 6:00 a.m. we typically see that pick up earlier. we see the yellow on the right. no problems though into san francisco from the bay, the bridge, the golden gate bridge, the peninsula one issue, the off ramp might have one lane blocked. the car went into some water there. everybody is safe but there is a crew on scene. the lanes of 101 itself, no slowing past sfo. the hotels doing pretty well there. looking toward the san maeft and dumbarton bridges. not a problem. today we expect to see a bump up in traffic as a lot of folks are back to work and school. yesterday saw good volume. we should see slowing at the san mateo bridge. >> sfo's newest flight arrives in a few hours. united airlines announced a daily nonstop from indianapolis to san francisco. the first will alive at 10:00

a.m. united offers nonstop service from indianapolis to hubs in chicago, cleveland, denver, houston, new york and washington, d.c. >> the time is 4:40. we're going to show you some of the gadgets in las vegas. this is fun stuff including appliances you can send a text to. >> attempts to take san jose's styrofoam ban to the voters is stopped short. why you will not see the issue on the ballot. >> a queue coup at a plant in f. we'll tell you why they are so upset. >> check this out a semitruck just miss as utah state trooper. what the trooper is saying about this brush with death.

>> welcome back. it's 4:43. hearings begin in jerry sandusky's case to have his pension restored. he will participate from his jail cell by videoconference. the assistant football coast lost a $4900 a month pension in

2012 after he was convicted of sexually abusing children. the the hearing could last three days but a decision could take months. >> workers at a good year tire factory in france are holding two bosses captive. they used a large tire to barricade a meeting room door. they spent the night in the factory along with the plant's director and the human resources chief. good year has tried to sell or shut down the factory for five years, the plant has a contentious fast with sometimes violent protests. >> in a few hours the senate will decide whether to move forward with a bill to extend unemployment benefits. for more on that let's turn to courtney reagan. good morning. >> good morning. the senate does hold a procedural vote today whether to consider a bill to extend long term unemployment benefits for 1.3 million americans. those expired last month. the measure would extend them for three months while lawmakers seek ways to offset the $6

billion cost. president obama's urging congress to back the bill. futures are higher after stocks posted modest losses. the s&p 500 falling for a third day, the first time it started the year out with three straight losses since 2005. investors reacting to mixed data, factory orders rebounded but growth in services slowed. we get data on the trade deficit and a pair of fed officials speaking about the economy. the dow dropping to 16,425, nasdaq losing 18 to 4113. tech companies are betting that wearable devices will catch on and be the next bing thing. the intel ceo showing off several products on monday including ear buds that monitor heart rate and a smart head set. intel has struggled to expand beyond the pc business. see if this does the trick. >> always fun to see what comes out of that.

thanks so much. >> the convention center in las vegas looks like this. a little more like the set of the jetson you remember. >> no, i don't at all. i'm way too young. >> robots and drones, this year's show focused on the future. soon you'll be able to send a text to your appliances, this oven and stove come with a tablet, you can download recipes, cook them and then text your kids to let them know hey, dinner is ready. >> wow. >> back and forth with your fridge or your washer. they say for example you might tell it you're going away on vacation for a couple of weeks. the appliances will respond maybe i should go into low energy mode for that time. >> conversational. conversational washer. >> go clean yourself, refrigerator. >> right. if you are going out for dinner soon you'll not have to leave the phone on the table a. fashion able bracelet or necklace to let you know when there is a call, text or e-mail.

>> interesting. >> these ungangly phones are leaving. >> just like get smart. >> you remember get smart too? >> no, i don't. i'm dating myself. i'm going to say i don't remember any of that. let's check in with the young and beautiful christina loren. >> i have no idea what you guys are talking about. >> she really doesn't. >> i do. 47 degrees. for me it was an inspector gadget thing. san francisco 49, 37 to kick off the day in the north bay. and we're looking good, the highs a little above average throughout the day so keep that in mind. it's going to be pretty nice with temperatures out of the 40s into the 60s. we head throughout the day we're going to see a nice climb. looking good in the east bay now, temperatures are mild, 47 degrees. we'll have a full look at your forecast. right now i'm going to send it back to you, terry and laura. >> new this morning a movie director believed to have

influenced many has died. y pop youized the kung fu in his studio was once among the largest producing nearly 1,000 movies. he died today at the age of 107. though the exact cause of his death has not been released. he also produced some american films including the 1982 classic "blade runner." the ice breaker that helped rescue passengers in antarctica is now free. the snow dragon was called in to help rescue a russian vessel but the snow dragon became stuck. it dispatched a helicopter that took the passengers to an australian vessel. the dragon has broken through the ice and now is in clear water. >> hard to believe we're reporting this the first week of january but firefighters from the bay area are heading to the northern border of the state to battle several rare winter wildfires. the campbell fire is north of

campbellville near redding, the red fire is burning near eureka in humboldt county. the two burned 1,000 acres combined. no structures have been burned. the red fire is 65% contained. the campbell fire, 40%. >> election officials say more than half of the signatures in an attempt overturn the styrofoam ban were fake. owners turned in almost 39,000 signatures to get a measure on the june ballot that would repeal the ban. after several complaints of shady behavior in the signature collection officials checked every single signature. and found that only about 18,000 were legitimate. that's about 3,000 short of the number needed. the "mercury news" reports that nearly 15,000 signatures appear made up. about 1300 were ruled gibberish because they couldn't read them. another 1,000 signed twice.

>> a utah highway patrol trooper was nearly killed when a semitruck swerved into his path. look at this video. caught on this dashboard cam. the trooper was approaching an accident when he turned on his emergency lights, the driver of the semi didn't see traffic slowing down in front of him. as the semi skidded the driver swerved to miss it, couldn't do it. he is okay though. the trooper said it was not until he saw this video that he realized he was about 30 feet from not making it home. >> makes your heart beat fast. >> it does. so huge and fast. >> 4:50 now. countries will be naming their olympic hockey rosters. the sharks play they're could be left off of the list. >> we'll introduce you to the 84-year-old 49ers super fan who knows no bounds. that is until now. >> we'll look over to the north

bay where we expect a good flow of traffic and not so good slowdown later on. the east bay and the changes that have happened in the las few minutes.

certainly sounds olympic. a number of sharks players will find out if they will be representing their countries at the winter olympics. joe pavelski knows he was named to team usa.

goalie niemi is expected to be named to teamp finland. five in the mix, mark edward vlasic and dan boyle and patrick marleau are on the bubble. captain joe thornton invited last year but isn't expected to make the cut. the story, however, is logan couture. he was expected to be on team canada but now he will have hand surgery tomorrow. he is expected to miss three to four weeks that would put him back on the ice in time for the olympics but only if his recovery actually goes as planned. >> staking with the sports, a 49ers super fan says he is calling it quits. 84-year-old jim cunningham says he is going to hang it up after this season. every game day for more than 20 years he has covered his home with trinkets, posters, jerseys, even a scoreboard that he updates during the games. most of the memorabilia has been

donated by other fans. >> getting to a time in life i have to slow down. it's my fourth down and if i'm not careful i'll have to kick. >> he even talks football. the house has become a draw. some have stopped by to say hello. >> that's great. >> i love his comment there. >> exactly. don't want to kick. let's check the morning commute now with mike. something going on? >> changes, that's good changes going on. this is the bay bridge. right center screen the flashing lights, if you can make that out t crews are clearing from that westbound deck as you make your way over to the upper deck. that's a better flow of traffic. nothing to speak of as far as slowing aside from that flashing light and a couple lanes. they clear that before 5:00. here also the antioch bridge had the earlier closure, as we

talked about it was cleared just before 5:00 so a slower drive, all of those lanes moved. not a problem now heading north in to the north bay across 160 and 4 westbound the commute we're watching for slowing. that should kick in the things go according to a typical tuesday. back to you. >> mike, who doesn't like a puppy or a kitten. it was also a banner year for the san francisco spca. the group says its christmas window is full of adoptable kittens and puppies in san francisco's union square found a record breaking 339 animals new homes. that's the most adopted in one year since the program started 27 years ago. more than $80,000 donated. >> my sons were small we would go down there. it's 4:56. a deep freeze sweeping across the u.s., how the below zero temperatures are causing a

travel gridlock across the country, even affecting some flyers in the bay area. >> still looking for answers seven years after a young man is killed outside a san francisco nightclub. police are looking for new witnesses to the cold case.

stranded at sfo. thousands of travelers waiting for word about when they can catch a flight out of town. >> something we haven't had to deal with for a while, low clouds and fog developing. this is keeping your temperatures a little milder this morning but this could interrupt your smooth drive to work. we'll be tracking the visibilities as they fall down to a quarter mile in gilroy. your full forecast and showers in just moments. >> with those issues for visibility we'll have more koorns the road because we're returning to the commute after the new year and also this camera through san jose trying to find a spin-out reported.

>> a live look outside now. looking at san francisco. beautiful shot. no matter how many times you see it. >> i love it. one of my favorites. >> it is tuesday, january 7th, this is "today in the bay." good morning everyone. thanks for joining us. i'm terry mcsweeney. >> i'm laura garcia-cannon. beautiful here but there is a blanket of cold air over most of the nation this morning. meteorologists say it's air from the north pole dipping into parts of the country that are usually much warmer even in the winter. peggy bunker joins us with more on the problems caused by all of this cold weather. >> are we getting off scott free or what. good morning. first up in this one-two punch of record weather was the snowstorm over 20 states. now today the second blow, bone chilling freezing temperatures that will grip the midwest and several eastern states. let's start with upstate