morning. taking a live look outside in beautiful san francisco with the trans america. a very warm saturday. i i'm kira klapper. >> you see the clear skies over our shoulders. nice start to the morning.

chilly in a few spots of the north bay. let's take you on the tour of the east bay. upper 70s right now. that is not a typo. we've got high pressure, warm dry air in the hills. below in livermore, 53 right now. our temperatures warming up again today. south san francisco down to san mateo, heat advisory as temperatures approach the 90s. this includes all of the santa clara valley. santa cruz yesterday 95 to 100, today more 90s in the forecast even for the south coast. despite the cool start right now, mid 90s again for our valley to the north bay out towards the tri-valley. some relief is in sight as we move through the weekend. when that coastal cooldown will affect the inland valleys. >> thank you, rob. this is the kind of warm

weather, near triple digits we typically expect over the summer. a lot of people said the october heat wave is nice, others are ready for it to be over. heat caused morgan hill unified school district to operate under the so-called rainy day schedule. less time outside or in the direct sun. student athletes practiced inside. coaches told us they were paying extra attention for signs of dehydration. athletes aren't the only ones hoping for relief from the heat. >> the heat dries things out, makes it tougher for firefighters to get up and down the hillsides. we increase our staffing to make it easier to put fires out. >> cal fire battalion chief says one spark of a lawn mower can turn into a dangerous situation. >> san jose fire crews were fighting two separate fires requiring them to call for backups. first happened at 10:00 at a town home. minutes later crews were called

to the center grocery store. san jose fire tweeted out this picture of the townhouse fire. they say a car fire spread to the building. you can see a burning car. then flames shooting out of the second story. no one was hurt, but the down home is a total loss. five people have to find new places to live. one crew was battling those flames, another crew was fighting to keep a small grocery store from going up in flames. thankfully a sprinkler system kept the fire from spreading. crews had a difficult time fighting the fire because there was so much smoke and clutter inside the store. there is extensive smoke and water damage. no one was hurt. causes of both fire are still under investigation. a uc berkeley student is under arrest on suspicion of sexually assaulting a woman at the frat earn house on campus. police are investigating two other attacks on women.

the 21-year-old berkeley student was arrested thursday night at the delta epsilon fraternity. police are careful to note they are not connecting this suspect to the other two alleged attacks. >> it's not surprised to hear the three results, but different they are being reported. >> reports of sexual assaults on or near university of california campuses rose by nearly 50% last year. all colleges in the uc system except for one reported an increase. >> a south bay elementary school teacher is accused of sexually assaulting one of his students inside a classroom. police now want to know if there are more victims. john lloyd was arrested thursday at his home. police say the fifth grade teacher sexually assaulted a girl several times in a classroom. this reportedly happened at paradise elementary in morgan hill. the school is now working with police to notify all parents.

more cases of enterovirus in the bay area. a child in san francisco contracted the virus this month. the third bay area county to report a case of the potentially dangerous respiratory infection. the child was treated at a hospital outside san francisco and discharged two days later in good health. >> there have been two cases announced in alameda county, one in solano and santa cruz. there are 14 confirmed cases in california. it's an unpleasant scene and smell in one of the most popular parks in the south bay. dozens of dead fish. the drought and excessive heat are causing an algae bloom. as a result, fish are dying. the reservoirs are low because we haven't gotten enough rain. the water district has to hold back the water that would typically be flowing through.

the stagnant water creates algae sucking up the oxygen for the fish, killing them. >> when you walk over that bridge you see a lot of carcasses. >> the water district is urgently reminding people to conserve, saying we are still in the thick of the drought despite that brief dose of rain a week or so ago. a kayaker whose boat was badly damaged by a shark yesterday said the impact was worse than a car accident, but he wasn't hurt. it was the second shark encounter in two days. researchers say on thursday a great white attacked a surfer in nearby waters. the shark was up to ten feet long. that victim was hurt, but should survive. recent encounter prompted officials to close several peaches as a precaution and won't reopen until sunday night. as giants fans celebrate yesterday's big win, local restaurants and bars are cashing

in on the playoff season. near at&t park, restaurants and bars are decked out in orange and black and they are staffing up. they are expecting even bigger crowds when the giants have home games and hoping for more wins, happy fans tend to be generous fans. >> i spent $150 already. multiply it out. probably $2,500, $3,000 without getting tickets. if i got tickets, it's going to be off the hook. >> beer, tickets, programs, babysitters. >> the giants will be here at home on monday. coming up in about 30 minutes, we'll show you highlights from the big game one win against the nationals. we'll hear from key players. much more ahead on "today in the bay." it is 7:07. not so hospitable. a major hotel chain fined for blocking customers' internet access. why the hotel says it didn't do

anything wrong. then destruction at the site of the flight 93 crash. the serious damage done by a fire.

at 7:10, a live look outside in the oakland hills. a little pink in that sky as the sun is rising on what should be a very warm day today. cooler than what we've seen the last few days. >> a fire at the flight 93 national memorial in shanksville, pennsylvania destroyed three buildings. artifacts from 9/11 may have been destroyed, as well. this fire broke out inside the kitchen of the headquarters and spread quickly. a building that holds most of the oral histories and pictures was spared from the flames. >> we took precautions right

away and attacked the fire to save the one building, the one double wide which happened to hold the oral histories. we determined we should save that because that was all we had a chance to save. we attacked that and were able to save that building. >> the building that did burn held 10% of the memorial archival collection. curators won't know what is damaged or saved until they can go in. feds are coming down on marriott hotels saying the chain went too far blocking wi-fi access. now the hotel chain will have to pay up. the fcc investigated marriott after it allegedly jammed guests' personal wi-fi devices during a conference in nashville last year. the hotel then charged guests up to $1,000 to connect to its internet. marriott agreed to pay a $600,000 fine. frequent travelers were

surprised to hear this news. >> i never heard of anybody doing that before. i don't know if it's practice, but i certainly think they should be penalized for it. >> in a statement, marriott wrote it believed the action was lawful and necessary to protect its guests from rogue hot spots that allowed cyber attacks. >>. >> much more ahead -- a free party for almost a million people. the big music festival in san francisco this weekend and special tribute to the festival's founder. >> gorgeous start to the morning right now in san francisco. sunrise there. clear skies and another hot forecast for parts of the bay area. a look at what you can expect when we come back.

welcome back. 7:14. we are taking a live look at fremont as the sun is rising over the tesla factory on this saturday morning. music lovers are filling up

golden gate park for the start of this weekend's hardly strictly blue grass festival. the free three-day festival features some of the biggest names from emmy lou harris to social distortion. the founder died several years ago, but the festival continues because of his generosity. joe rizatto jr shows how his family is paying tribute to him this weekend. >> reporter: in a san francisco rehearsal studio, a band you probably never heard of. made up of names you probably don't know. was running through its repertoire. but this weekend, this group of musician musicians will take the stage before tens of thousands of people in golden gate park. and get a rousing reception.

>> it's because we're his family and we know that. it helps us appreciate how much he loved music. >> the band is made up of the children, grandchildren, friends of the late warren hellman who founded and foot the bill for the hardly strictly bluegrass festival. >> this is like the partridge family of the hellmans. like our family band. >> before his death several years ago, hellman would often take the stage of hardly strictly with his trusty banjo. this year his family going by the name go to hell man clan will pay tribute by carrying on that music. >> i like to think it's something he would embrace and seeing his grandchildren out there playing it. >> the festival now in its 14th year draws hundreds of thousands of people to the park for three days of free music. hellman left behind an endowment to keep it all going.

>> he really loved the music with all his heart and soul. he wanted to share that. >> like hellman, members of his family didn't grow up on the stage. >> i haven't touched a drum stick in 30 years. >> it brings us close to our father in a way, as well. even though he's not here, it feels like he is. >> there are no illusions this band would enjoy names like emmy lou harris or steve beryl had it not been for hellman. it's more of a way to channel his love of music through the people he loved. >> it's to make him proud that he introduced this type of music into the family. >> it will be a beautiful day to go outside and listen to music. >> and the weather starting to cool off a little bit today. it's going to take time for valleys to cool off. gorgeous start to the morning though. clear skies.

mirror like view across the water, across the bay. looking back over to san francisco. 57. 60 in san jose. in san francisco still fairly warm 66. you get the morning start there. you see hazy skies and not much wind over downtown. you look at the orange skies. temperatures in the east bay interesting. in the hill tops this morning, still sitting in the mid 70s. an indication of warming, sinking air aloft. offshore breezes continue in the hills. 53 in livermore. closer to san francisco, mid 60s. actually almost close to 70 out towards twin peaks. you are seeing numbers in the mid 60s and clear skies at ocean beach this morning. one spot you'll probably want to

go to to get away from the mid 80s. minor cooling for the coast. you see the area affected by the heat advisory not nearly as extensive as yesterday. this will include oakland to haywood down from san mateo and south san francisco to the santa clara valley from morgan hill to the south coast from santa cruz to gilroy today. around the south bay, you'll see the numbers in the mid 90s. slow cooling as we head into the evening. san francisco will warm up quickly then level off with those temperatures with the mid 80s as opposed to the mid 90s. that's thanks to a sea breeze which should pick up around 3:00. it will make a difference in our temperatures, especially as we head towards tomorrow. patchy low clouds on the coast. watch what happens into sunday. the marine layer making a comeback. as cooler air begins to build on the coast, sunday we'll see more

widespread cooling. monday and tuesday as the fog begins to sweep back in. that's going to lead to attempt drop in our valleys. today still hot. especially south of san jose. you'll see numbers soaring to the mid to upper 90s. 93 in san jose. mid 80s around san francisco. towards the coast, still 80s around pacifica. into the 90s again around santa cruz for the afternoon. 90s around the north bay and tri-valley today. oakland toward fremont, upper 80s to low 90s. for hardly strictly bluegrass today, mid 80s. 70s tomorrow. by golden gate park and san jose state this evening, little hot as that game gets under way. could have upper 80s and eventually cooling. mid 80s as the weekend continues. early afternoon start at levi stadium. could be on the hot side. mid to upper 80s at 1:00. then numbers drop off through the second half of the game. we should see cooler temperatures for everybody by tuesday and west as low clouds return and ocean air

conditioning turns back on early next week. >> i like that, ocean air conditioning. thank you. we have much more ahead on "today in the bay" coming up. >> she sees that pinned on me and that will be the thanks i can give her. >> a second chance for a high school sports star in trouble with the law. the teacher who helped turn his life around.

it's a tale of bad choices. good fortune and the life-changing impact of a great teacher. a once-promising high school football player from the east bay turned his life around. here is "today in the bay" garvin thomas with our "proud series. >> dexter thomas played football in fremont until six months shy of graduation, run-in with the law landed him in juvenile court. for many, this would have been the first step down a bad path,

but thanks to committed adults, one in particular, it wasn't for dexter. breaking the school-to-prison pipeline was the topic of a recent summit in oakland. 350 educators, community leaders and young people brain storming ways to stop trouble in school from becoming a lifetime of trouble with the law. talking about doing, basically, what dexter harris has done. >> high household was rough. >> six months shy of graduating high school, dexter made a bad decision, committed a crime, one he is still not comfortable talking about openly. >> i mean, i was running with -- i don't want to get too much in the details, but i was running with the wrong crowd of guys. >> instead of jail though, a judge sent dexter to camp will

mont sweeney, alternative school run by the county pro dags and education department. it was a bit of good luck for dexter, though he wasn't able to see it at the time. >> i was mad, frustrated. >> do the back page only. >> it was up to teacher nicole crosby to open his eyes. >> dexter was not hard to crack. he may think he was. >> she is always like that kind-hearted, genuine personality. you can trust her and see she really does care. >> dexter says camp sweeney was his first experience with adults who not only cared upon him, but could be relied on to show it. >> they had a genuine interest to see me progress down the right path. >> for dexter, that path now leads to being a firefighter. after graduating from camp sweeney, dexter is working as an emt and taking courses to become

a paramedic. courses only made possible by a $12,000 scholarship arranged by nicole crosby. >> i look at it just as an investment in that young man because it's money in the bank. em's hopeful some day it just pays dividends to the community. >> i feel really grateful. the only way i feel i can repay her if i get into the fire department, she sees that badge being pinned on me. that will probably be the thanks i can give her. >> if dexter is able to stay on the right path, he becomes an exception to that school-to-prison pipeline. research shows 2/3 of youths released from jail end up back there within just a few years. garvin thomas, nbc bay area news. much more ahead on "today in the bay." coming up, this isn't your average treadmill. how this walk is teaching us about mountain lions. plus -- >> when i left it was pretty

bad. >> they fought in wars and now fighting here at home. fighting the va system for years just to get dentures or other serious dental work. we investigate.

good saturday morning at 7:29, taking a live look outside san francisco from our emeryville camera. the sun shining on what should be a hot day. a few degrees cooler than we've seen the last few days though. good morning and thank you for joining us. i'm kira klapper. >> you see the clear skies. no fog right now. gorgeous start to the morning. not too windy outside. 50s and 60s from around emeryville and oakland to san francisco. san francisco is the warm spot this morning. you don't often see that. notice not as hot for san

francisco today. about 85. san jose 93, 95, still up in the north bay. those temperatures again, looking at heat advisory from oakland to hayward to san francisco into palo alto. down towards santa cruz where yesterday we had highs in the 95 to 100 degree range. that's where the air gets shoved down to some of those santa cruz mountains. tries out to the beaches. could see that again today. for other areas on the coast, some cooling today. widespread cooling as we get into sunday. cooler temperatures coming up in the forecast. >> we look forward to it. it's fun to enjoy the sun, but you have a cooldown and you want to stay tuned for that. thank you, rob. a lot of people are enjoying this october heat wave. it is causing concern for others. morgan hill unified school district opted under the so-called rainy day schedule. less time outside or in the direct sun.

student athletes were forced to practice inside. last night's high school football games, coaches told us they were paying extra attention for signs of dehydration. athletes aren't the only ones hoping for relief from the heat. >> dries things out. makes it tougher for our firefighters to get up and down the hill sides. we increase our staffing to make it easier to put the fires out. >> cal fire battalion chief scott witt says one spark of a lawn mower can quickly turn into a dangerous situation. san jose fire crews required to fight two fires. the first ignited after 10:00 at a town home west of highway 87. minutes later, crews were called to the center grocery store. san jose fire tweeted this picture of the townhouse fire. you can see there is a car burning. that fire spread to the building. flames shooting out of the

second story. the town home was a total loss. five people now have to find a new place to live. one crew was battling those flames, another was fighting to save this small grocery store on center road. a sprinkler system did keep the fire from spreading. there is extensive smoke and water daniel though. no one was hurt. the causes of both fires are still under investigation. at uc berkeley a student is under arrest on suspicion of sexually assaulting a woman at a fraternity house. berkeley police investigate two other attacks on women. all may have happened on the same night. the 20-year-old berkeley student was arrested thursday night at the delta epsilon fraternity on warren street. the attack happened last saturday at the frat house south of campus. police are careful to note, they are not connecting this suspect to the two other alleged attacks. >> i was not surprised to hear

of the three sexual assaults, but it is different that the assaults are being reported. >> reports of sexual assaults on or near university of california campuses rose by nearly 50% last year. all colleges in the system except for one reported an increase. family members who lived with the ebola patient thomas eric duncan in texas have been removed from their home after four days of isolation because it took public health officials that much time to find somewhere to put the family. no one wanted to take them because of their possible exposure to ebola. someone offered a private home in an isolated area where the family will ride out the rest of their quarantine. >>. >> the freelance american journalist working with nbc news who tested positive for ebola and the team he was working with will leave for the u.s. this weekend. he will be treated at the nebraska medical center that successfully treated an earlier ebola patient.

>> i think their confidence level has been boosted given the experience we had previously and recently. they are ready to go. >> the photographer was working with nbc's d. nancy snyderman, even though no other member of the team exhibited ebola symptoms, they will all stay in isolation 21 days. a mountain lion sighting on the peninsula prompted a warning. be careful if you're jogging or playing outside. the lion was seen yesterday morning near the green hills golf course just blocks from interstate 280. the uc santa cruz puma project finds the drought is driving lions closer to populated areas. researchers have trained some captive cats to walk on treadmills for motion studies. special collars track and measure how the animals move. the goal is to gather data on how and where mountain lions interact with humans. if you are one of the more

than 200 million instagram users, ask yourself this. are you a gram master? if so, your pictures could be worth thousands of dollars. from the dream job file, netflix is looking for three people to travel the country taking instagram pictures of film and television locations. the pay? $2,000 per week. if you are interested, you can apply by following the netflix instagram account, posting your three best pictures and using the hash tag gram master. a dental technician in southern california is suing charlie sheen because she says he punched her in the chest during an office visit. margarita palastino filed the lawsuit yesterday. she is accusing sheen of attacking her during a dental appointment in september, punching her in the chest and grabbing her bra. a spokesperson for sheen says the actor did have a bad reaction to the combination of

nitrous oxide and pain medication, and that's what caused him to knock over dental instruments. the spokesperson says the other parts of the story are just not true. much more ahead on "today in the bay." a history-making performance. why the giants victory over the nationals was one for the record books. ♪ ♪ with 5 perfectly sweetened whole grains, you can't help but see the good. look for big g cereals with money saving offers

on these breakfast favorites and give your budget a boost. trying to mislead you about the effects of proposition 46. well here's the truth: 46 will save lives. it will save money too. i'm bob pack, and i'm fighting for prop 46 because i lost my two children to preventable medical errors and i don't want anyone else to lose theirs. the three provisions in 46 will reduce medical errors and protect patients. save money and save lives. yes on 46.

welcome back. the giants came into this baseball series against the washington nationals as decided underdogs. as recent history has shown, that's when orange and black thrived. game one in the nation's capital. san francisco jumped out to an early lead. brandon belt singled in hunter pens to put the giants up in the fourth. san francisco held on for a 3-2 victory. giants won their ninth straight postseason game setting a major league record.

>> the hustle and heart of this team is what makes the fans so appreciative of the team they have. i don't think anybody gave them as much of a chance from pittsburgh. we are certainly not the favorites, but we'll play hard. >> it helps the fact we've been here before. all in all, it's good we were able to stick together through all of this. that's what will get us through. >> game two of the series is this afternoon. first pitch at 2:37. much more ahead on this "today in the bay." we investigate palo alto's renowned veterans hospital. how long war veterans are waiting for critical dental care. >> here is a view around the bay area. looking at clear skies. 66 in downtown san francisco.

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off to a sunny start around the bay area. 48 close to napa. look at san francisco. 66 this morning. still seeing the benefit of the offshore breeze keeping temperatures up there. 60 in san jose towards palo alto. 57 right now in the east bay there. closer to what we are seeing in oakland. some of our east bay locations, some of the more interesting spreads of temperatures around the bay area right now. tri-valley looking at the low 50s. as you head up to the hills, mid 70s this morning as that dry air and warm air continues to descend down into san francisco right now. we are seeing those temperatures also in the mid 60s around twin peaks and civic center plaza. it is transporting the dry and warming air down to the coast. a very interesting perspective. obviously, clear skies. no low clouds right now out at ocean beach. up towards the sierra, heat

advisory for parts of the bay area. locations around lake tahoe down to 31. the air is dry, chilly. as that same air is forced down in elevation, that air begins to warm up and dry out as it heads down to the beaches. the reason yesterday you saw in santa cruz the numbers in the mid 90s. we'll probably see another day like that. today the heat advisory, not so much for san francisco or the north part of the coast here around the upper peninsula, but over towards oakland and hayward, south san francisco, san mateo down to sunnyvale. one more day for santa cruz heading to watsonville, hot temperatures with a run at the 90s. notice where the low clouds are. starting to make a comeback late in the day. by sunday, we'll see a sign of ocean air conditioning with the marine layer starting to build. will lead to widespread cooling the second half of the weekend. monday and tuesday, we think the

sea breeze will turn strong enough to take the edge off the heat. still plenty hot. south of san jose into saratoga. mid to upper 90s. you'll see numbers around the 80s for pacifica. not close to the low 90s we saw yesterday. mid 80s closer to san francisco. those numbers in the mid 90s again for the north bay and tri-valley. not much changed for the tri-valley into sunday. things will be more comfortable out at the hardly strictly bluegrass festival in san francisco. 85 today. 77 sunday. temperatures warm around game time for the san jose state spartans tonight. upper 80s. levi stadium tomorrow, warm to start. likely see mid to upper 80s at that kick-off. around 1:25 and numbers dropping to the low 80s. we will see the cooling trend take hold for san jose as we approach the middle part of the week when low clouds return. cooler temperatures turning back to the santa clara valley. >> thank you, rob. much more ahead on "today in

the bay." heros of war waiting for care. we investigate evidence of a backlog at palo alto veterans hospital. good morning. there is a lot to do in the bay. you get this weekend off and run buying setting off and running along the redwood shores. starting and ending at the october run. a new and improved course. three-mile extension of the bay trail is included through the san francisco bay national and wildlife refuge. the organizers do apologize for those observing yom kippur. they are not able to run this year. this will not happen again until 2041. if you celebrate the high holidays or interested, yom kippur is, as we said today, for jews, it's the holiest time of the year. our friends at congregation sinai, all are welcome. have a ticket ahead of time. they are free, but you get them

by contacting the synagogue. they want to make sure you know what to expect during the ceremony. >> now for moving to a synagogue to a mission san jose, which is not in san jose. you'll celebrate the history of the area. selling all sorts of things olive. side dishes and oils using a totally different type of oil. porsche club of america will have the car show there. i'll be back here monday morning to connect with you your commute.

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it's been held up as a shining example in a broken va system nationwide. the va hospital in palo alto is a clinic that works where veterans don't have to wait for care. this morning, we have evidence that says otherwise.

war heroes waiting months or years to complete their care. >> reporter: we discovered that some of the veterans who went to war are now battling for critical dental care they need here at home. insiders at palo alto's va hospital says all is not as it has been portrayed nationally. they've come forward to us with evidence showing a serious backlog of care exist at palo alto's va center, too. not necessarily on the medical side, but in the dental clinic. the promise to veterans made by president abraham lincoln in 1865 is memorialized in bronze out in front of the va medical center in palo alto. >> they need the best treatment we can give them. >> former dental lab technician george gettes says he witnessed palo alto's va fell short when

it came to caring for dental patients. >> it got progressively worse until i left. when i left it was pretty bad. >> reporter: for six years he worked in the palo alto's va dent laboratory making dentures, implants. >> i know first hand a lot of the sacrifices for this country. >> reporter: under va guidelines, dental care is reserved for special veterans, not every vet qualifies. to get dental care under the rules, veteran must be a former p.o.w. or 100% disabled or meets specific need-based criteria. george gettes witnessed those vets waiting incredibly long periods to get implants and dentures. how long were some of these cases? >> the longest one was about three years. >> reporter: a man waiting thre years for dentures. frustrated with the growing number of patients left untreated, he decided to retire late last year. >> one gentleman in particular,

he didn't have his dentures and he was telling me he was so tired of drinking his food. >> reporter: don't believe gettes? listen to this insider who still works at the va. >> the waiting period is just unreal. >> reporter: the insider asked to be disguise and voice altered because he fears retaliation. has anything changed? >> no. nothing has changed. >> reporter: nbc bay area investigative unit obtained copies of these logs, a look how extensive the backlog is. take a look at these pictures, too. the pictures taken in july show hundreds of cases representing hundreds of patients. cases still sitting on the shelves in the va's dental laboratory. cases that are unresolved and unfinished. some date back to 2011. is there a backlog here? >> there was a backlog, yes. >> reporter: this doctor serves as chief of dental services at

the palo alto va. how long have some payings waited? >> i am aware some payings waited up to two years for implants. >> reporter: is that acceptable? >> that is not acceptable. the staffing shortage, the support staff shortage all have been addressed. >> reporter: dr. nath acknowledges long wait times for dental care was a problem, but she insists she's made significant progress in reducing that backlog since taking the helm two years ago. >> reporter: i need new dentures. do i have to wait? >> you may have to wait more than a month, but less than two. >> reporter: dr. nath says she increased staffing in recent years hiring more dental specialists and contracting with two outside labs. are there still veterans waiting for prosthesis? >> not at this point. >> reporter: we discovered the backlog persists. >> they need to move quicker on

these problems. >> reporter: talk at veterans. this man says he's seen little progress. >> there is no excuse for this. >> reporter: he says he waited so far almost two years to get permanent implants. he is still waiting. >> when you have teeth missing from your mouth, you feel very self-conscious about smiling or how you are going to eat. you have to be careful what kind of food you eat because it hurts. >> reporter: we found a list over 300. over 30% have been waiting for for months or longer. is that acceptable? we showed dr. nath the list we obtained, demonstrating how long some veterans had to wait. >> we make every attempt over here to reach the patient if his denture is sitting in the lab. if the patient has not come in or there has to be another reason. >> reporter: is the reason there aren't enough dentists to see the patients to put these dentures in?

>> no. we have improved staffing. we are going to make it even better. but if there is such a factor, it just needs to be investigated. >> reporter: we provided dr. nath and her staff with a complete list of 113 cases that are six months old or older. people say there aren't enough dentists and they aren't being seen and this is sitting on the shelves. >> there was a point when there were not enough dentists. like i started. we were extremely short staffed. i have done my very best with our leadership to fix that problem. >> something needs to be done now about this. you can't ignore this. >> reporter: for veterans such as michael, dr. nath pledged to do better rings hollow in the shadow of president lincoln's words from so long ago. when are you going to take care of this problem? we all waited long enough. >> we learned the inspector

general is now investigating this backlog to see why it's taking so long to get these veterans' dentures, implants and other dental treatment they need. when the secretary of the va visited palo alto earlier this summer, he admitted to us there is a problem with a serious backlog of dental cases here. as for dr. nath, she tells us they are now looking into the cause of these delays and she promises she will make any changes as needed. we will keep following this story. stephen stock, nbc bay area news. >> at 7:55 right now, still ahead on "today in the bay," a sign and microphone. the grand gesture this teen made.

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a south bay student had a sign and hot mike on the "today" show plaza. >> we have an important question on the plaza. >> claire will you go to homecoming with me? >> she is watching right now, right? >> she is watching. >> claire, we need an answer. >> that was tyler, a willow glenn student asking claire to the homecoming dance. according to his dad, claire said yes. thankfully. the couple is heading off to the homecoming dance next weekend. that is too cool. finally this morning, the internet sensation grumpy cat has something to smile about this halloween. chances are she won't smile. grumpy cat has her own pumpkin. despite all the excitement, she seemed less than amused at the unveiling of the pumpkins carved by famed pumpkin carver. fans of the famous feline can download their own stencil sheet. i cannot get enough of that face. she is so miserable she is so

love. you have to love her. thanks for making us a part of your morning. more local news tonight. some people think vegetables are boring. but with green giant's delicious seasonings and blends, we just may change their minds. ho ho ho green giant! (yawn) (ding!) toaster strudel! more fruit in the filling, ya? mmm! ya! warm, flaky, gooey, toaster strudel! now, with more fruit!

♪ when you're up in outer space ♪ ♪ and searching for the greatest place ♪ ♪ where everyone's a friendly face ♪ ♪ astroblast ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, here is your crew-- sputnik, halley, radar, jet, sal, and comet. ♪ astroblast ♪ i love my little tree with peaches on so yummy ♪ ♪ it's small and green like a ploofitasian's tummy ♪ ♪ i don't really care if you say he's a tree ♪ ♪ my zorkian peach buddy is best friends with me ♪ yeah! ok!