a nsef "mbn . a sense of numbness that still has not quite set in as loved ones grieve the deaths of two journalists we're learning more about what led to the calculated killings. locally it's just as much a feeling a of shock. neighbors and family friends describe the man they knew before he pulled the trigger. plus, a hit and run in this santa clara county but there w not another cliefr involved. the driver and explosion that has authorities on the hunt this morning as "today in the bay" starts right now. a good thursday morning. i'm sam brock. laura garcia-cannon will join us momentari momentarily. we have a lot to get to this morning but we start with a look at your weather and pc. that cool down just getting underway. >> and it won't start until the

weekend. it will be one hot day across the bay area. today the hottest day of the week, but nice and cool to start. we are at 55 degrees in the north bay, mostly clear skies. if the peninsula 65 degrees and also 65 in the south bay. check out these highs today. san francisco 75, 92 north bay, south bay 90 degrees, east bay will be 80 while the tri-valley tops out near 100 degrees. it does come town for the weekend. let's get a look at traffic with mike. the activity right here on this one map we have north 13 -- highway 24 report of that connector being closed because of some debris removal there, that just disappeared from the chp report. sound like there is still activity. meanwhile, you might have a stall as well heading over toward that maze off of 580 eastbound. the rest of the bay has no problem. back to you. now to our continuing coverage on the tv news crew shooting. we are learning troubling new

details about the calculated murder of two journalists. their virginia community in mourning. both were each preparing to begin exciting new chapters in their personal lives when the alleged gunman vester flanagan opened fire in the middle of their on air report. sarah dallof is live in roanoke, virginia this morning. sara, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. someone claiming to be the shooter, faxed a # 23-page document to abc news in which he describes his mindset or describes himself as a human powder keg just waiting to go boom. colleagues describe alison parker and adam ward as special people, the kind who were up before sunrise to put in long hours reporting the news. their off camera lives were just as busy. park had recently moved in with her boyfriend, ward was engaged to be married. >> if i walked into the office in the morning and the first person i saw was either adam or

alison i got a smile on my face, they were always that way. >> reporter: they were interviewing a local official for wdbj when authorities say 41-year-old vester lee flanagan a former colleague opened fire, killer parker and ward. he also filmed the shooting and posted it to social media later as he was pursued by police before he eventually turned the gun on himself. >> it's obvious that there was did -- this gentleman was disturbed in some way of the way things are had transpired at some point in his life. it would appear things were spiraling out of control. >> reporter: flanagan who was hired from the station two years ago went by the name bryce williams when he worked there. management describes limb as an angry employee. >> after a while a number of incompetence dents we thought it was best if he left the company and he it did, but not happily. we had to get some assistance from the police to get him out of here. >> reporter: meanwhile, a growing memorial outside wdbj is

focused on the lives of parker and ward. late wednesday the community came together to mourn their loss. the station used to covering the news now the center of a tragic story of its own. and the woman being interviewed live when the shooting started was also hit. she underwent emergency surgery and now is in stable condition. meanwhile, scholarships are being established in the names of both victims as a way to keep their legacy alive. m to you. >> thank you very much for that report. there is also pain and tears here in the bay area. the gunman, vester flanagan, grew up in oakland and went to san francisco state. now his family is expressing their rehorse and sadness over the tragic deaths. vester flanagan known as bryce williams in some tv markets interned at kpix after receiving a degree if in. it v and radio it in san francisco state. his last listed bay area address

was in vallejo where he lived for several years near his father. the 41-year-old flanagan went to school at public schools. >> it is with heavy hearts and deep sadness we express our deepest condolences to the families of alison parker and adam ward. our thoughts and prayers at this time are with the victims' family. >> flanagan worked several tv jobs. the he ended up at wdbj this this virginia in 2012 but was reportedly fired the next year after several is incidents of anger. we will continue to follow this story throughout the morning on all of our tij tall platforms. just go to nbcbayarea.com or download our nbc bay area app. firefighters in the south bay spent the night watching for hot spots after a gas fueled strip mall fire in santa clara. santa clara police say had a that fire started at the poinciana plaza on lawrence expressway around 4:00 yesterday afternoon. investigators say a woman hit the mall's gas line and drove

right off. that fire destroyed five businesses, including a restaurant, laundromat and salon. the owner of the restaurant grabbed his cash register and just ran. >> it's sad. we still can't believe it. it happened so fast. >> the ruptured one inch gas line burned for more than four hours before pg&e was able to locate it and finally shut it off. the agency says it did not want to shut off the gas further away because service would have been cut to the surrounding neighborhood. police right now still looking for the driver who crashed into the gas lines and started a fire. luckily nobody was seriously hurt. we're going to get a quick check of your weather and see how things are cooking up. again, kari, it's going to be hot. >> it will be the hot but the great news is that this will not last long. this is not the kind of weather we will see into the weekend. look at the temperature though in livermore, it is 69 degrees this early in the morning. you know it's going to heat up

later on today. 62 degrees in san francisco, in santa rosa 55 degrees. gilroy 101, san mateo 82 it degrees, 74 in the castro and even some 90s and near 100 degrees as you head toward the north bay and tri-valley. let's get a look at traffic now with mike. we will start with this palo alto live shot here north 101 you see how light this volume of traffic, plenty of room to of move over to your left i suggest doing that north of palo alto. as you head up toward whipple a rash north of there may be blocking your slow lane. legal troubles that have now turned into formal charges. former 49er ray mcdonald will face charges for rape and he is not the only player indicted by a grand jury.

the drought is affecting all of us. at pg&e we've definitely put a focus on helping our agricultural customers through the drought. when they do an energy efficiency project and save that money they feel it right in their pocket book. it's exciting to help a customer with an energy efficiency project because not only are they saving energy but they are saving water. we have a lot of projects at pg&e that can help them with that and that's extremely important while we're in a drought. it's a win for the customer and it's a win for california. together, we're building a better california. pler hab

another mess for the 49ers. one player has been sent home and a former player charged with raping a drunk woman. late yesterday the santa clara county da charged ray mcdonald after a grand jury indicted him with rape charges. here is some video of mcdonald leaving jail earlier in the year after domestic violence charges. mcdonald is now accused of raping a woman at a is san jose home last december. >> the grand jury was convinced by the testimony of the victim in this case that what took place between here and mr. mcdonald was not something that she wished to take place. >> mcdonald claims the woman had

a consensual sex several times with him. he faces a maximum of eight years in prison if convicted. the other part of this story involved a current player ahmad brooks. he is charged with miss dmeen iter sexual battery against the same woman on the same night. this is his third run in with the law since 2008 and the 49ers responded last night to these events. the organization said, quote, we take any charge against a member of this had organization seriously and are in communication with the nfl. ahmad is returning home to california and are l. not parse ate in saturday's game" mean while, the team is in denver getting ready for the game against the broncos. happening today a tribute to an indy car driver killed earlier in the week. just i'm wilson died after he was struck by a piece of debris in a race. indy car drivers are going to cross the golden gate bridge in his honor. marco andretti will be driving wilson's number 25 indy car for

that tribute. the drivers will then head off to sonoma raceway where the championship deciding race will take place this weekend. killed in a line of duty, a domestic dispute takes a dangerous turn for the worse this louisiana. we are polling the latest developments next.

4:44 on your thursday morning. welcome back. out of the corner of our eyes we saw kari's graphic a second ago and i saw the word scorching underneath one of the cities. that's not necessarily a good

sign. >> it's not a good sign but we've been waiting on this heat up. i don't know about waiting is the right word, but i've been expecting this hot weather today and then this weekend it does come back down. as we take a live look now towards the golden gate bridge we do have some low clouds, but any clouds we see this this morning will be out of here quickly as those temperatures heat up. the seven-day forecast shows us today will be the peak of the heat, tomorrow we will have more clouds moving in, cooler temperatures and a then a push of some cooler air in time for the weekend. let's get a look out now, it's 55 degrees in the north bay, san francisco 62, highs will be up to 80 degrees in the east bay and the tri-valley of course is where it will be the hottest, up to near 100 degrees today. north bay 92 and the south bay 90 degrees. let's take you out to the tropics because there is a lot going on from the pacific we have hurricane ignaci o o and the winds up to 85 miles an hour. now, this is of concern because

if you have trips or a plan to go to hawaii, look at where this hurricane is going. and this looks like it will still hold together as a category 2. then on the other side in the atlantic we have tropical storm erica. wind seeds at the 50 mile an hour. this storm is struggling but the computer models do increase the wind speeds of this as it continues to move towards florida. here at home we have nice quiet calm conditions, maybe a little bit of a rain in this that forecast for the north bay early saturday morning. temperatures coming down, we will have 70s and 80s across the bay this weekend. great weather for outdoor activities. let's get a look at the morning chute with mike. great for a drive as well if you're traveling through dublin. this is westbound your commute direction. the crew typically approaching el charro not there right now. the entire tri-valley looks good. we had reports of debris north but it's not in lanes were what i understand. meanwhile, the rest of your approach off of highway 4, the

upper east shore freeway and 24 moves smoothly, but that disabled vehicle still reported eastbound on interstate 80. no problems, not even a lot of traffic. back to you. 4:47. finally after dropping for six straight days wall street appears to be bouncing back. for that and a the rest of your news before the bell we turn to landon dowdy live at cnbc's world headquarters. good morning, landon. >> good morning to you. fingers crossed let's hope so. today wall street looks set to build on wednesday's monster rally. stocks surge something with the dow rising more than 600 points and its best day since 2008. the s&p 500 the broadest measure of the markets closing out of correction territory, that's when a stocker index has dropped 10% or more from recent highs, investors taking heart from positive economic date at that and comments from a top fed official who says an interest rate hike in september now looks less likely. we get data this morning on home

sales plus second quarter gdp. the dow rising 619 points to 16,285. the nasdaq up 191 to 4697. walmart will stop sales of ar 15s and other semi-amount tick rifles. they say the move is due to sluggish sales and not related to recent high profile incidents involving the guns including the shootings at sandy hook elementary school. they say they are folk you used on hunting firearms. a gap is end is ending a controversial practice at that gave workers little or no notice about their schedules. they will stop using on call scheduling by the end of september and will now give employees 10 to 14 days notice as a part of a push to improve their work life balance. gap was among several retailers who got warning letters from the new york attorney general's office saying such practices violated state law. we move to a developing

story out of louisiana. a police officer dead, several others hurt after a domestic dispute reportedly took a dangerous turn. the suspect who has not been identified stabbed three women inside of a house there and also shot an officer of who was arriving on scene. the officer along with one of those stabbing victims later died. after the shooting the suspect rammed into the front of a nearby minimart, hen barricaded himself inside an office. officers responding to the scene were eventually able to take him back into custody. this morning chieb in a has detained several senior officials over this month's warehouse explosion. among those being held executives that worked for the company that owned the warehouse and high ranking government officials. her accused of criminal negligence, dereliction of duty and abuse of power. that investigation is focused on how the warehouse got permission to handle dangerous chemicals in the f. first place despite being

so close to homes and roadways. happening today now back in the u.s., president obama is going to be in new orleans ahead of the tenth anniversary of hurricane katrina. saturday marks ten years since hurricane katrina made land fall and nearly destroyed several cities. since then the focus has been on rebuilding that city and area. today the president will visit various neighborhoods in new orleans affected by the hurricane. estimates put the damage from katrina at more than a billion dollars, the most he can pen sieve natural disaster in history. quite a smell coming from a dead whale this al immediate at that this morning. here is a look at the carcass that's lodged under a dock it's in jack london square. researchers have been unable to figure out what kind of whale it is or each how large the mammal is. they're looking at options to pull the whale are the water so they can study it and figure out what happened but authorities say an operation lake that would be both expensive and very difficult to execute. coming up, could 21 be the

new age for all cigarette sales in one bay area city? the latest city proposing that sale ban but will it go through?

to 5:00 a on your thursday morning. if you are wondering what to wear outside today, something light and breathable. let's check in with meteorologist kari hall. >> yes, that will be what you need today to stay cool. gilroy up to 101 degrees today, get ready for that. san mateo will be up to 82, 74 degrees in the castro, 91 in novato, napa up to 89 degrees, oakland 82 and danville 99 degrees. we could even see some triple digits today like livermore topping out at 101 degrees. let's see how that commute is going with mike. getting ready for that morning commute so there it is, there's that zipper truck moving

north and moving that lane over so just two lanes northbound but four lanes southbound. that's your commute in in towards san francisco. that is your commute from the north bay, easy drive at the limit, same thing for the east shore freeway and approaching that bay bridge. no problems. we're marking off at and t park, 12:45 game for the a's today. crash at whipple affecting only the off ramp not 101 itself. smooth drive through the south bay as well. a sad thing report on what's going on on roadways. traffic injuries actually the leading cause of death for children ages 5 to 19 across the world. in fact, an estimated 500 children are killed and tens of thousands injured in had car accidents every single day. in the u.s. pedestrian safety is among the biggest issues facing teens and preteens. back in 2013 more than 400 children were killed and 16,000 injured in pedestrian-related traffic collisions. looks like it's full speed ahead on a pilot program allowing ride sharing companies

to to operate at sfo. taxi drivers had been opposed to that plan ever since it rolled out last year. they say they are taking a big hit from companies like uber and lyft. taxi drivers have held protests about it, including one yesterday it in san francisco. despite that sfo right now is all in this on ride sharing with leaders saying the program is being he can tepded at least through february. a travel website wants to help fix relationships damaged by the ashley madison scandal. their solution, cheap airfare so couples can repair their relationships on vacation. cheap air.com is offering ashley madison customers who had their data exposed a $50 companion discount. all you have to do is e-mail the company and it must much with one of the leaked accounts. last week hackers leaked some data, about 36 million users of that website for cheating spouses. so my question a reward for that. if the streets around martinez start to seem a little more bright at night it's not your imagination.

pg&e is going to begin installing new next generation led streetlights later this week. that project tnts through next month. 1900 new lights will be installed burning more brightly and more efficiently. another bay area city wants to snuff out all cigarette sales to anyone under the age of 21. a berkeley is it city council member proposing a new cigarette ban across most of california. it's currently legal to sell cigarettes to anyone over 18 but hills burring and santa clara county have started a new trend both of which have upped the age to 21. berkeley city council had he been are being going to consider that proposal on september 15th. happening today, a new effort in the south bay to feed those in need. the project is called feeding silicon valley. it will involve partnerships with san jose and several nonprofits to improve food donations. grocery stores and restaurants will be able to access a mobile app to donate their extra food using technology to help more people there. the indy car championship is

ask in sonoma this weekend. drivers honor a fallen colleague am this a special way. spialay.savoanremberg t remembering two journalists and countless lives forever changed by the horrifying furd of a tv if you say crew. sti ha't iteet . alod os ge

a sense of numbness that still hasn't quite set in as loved ones grieve the deaths of two journalists. we are learning more about what led to the calculated killings. neighbors and family friends describe the man they knew before he pulled the trigger. plus, a hit and run this santa clara, but there wasn't another driver involved. a fire and explosion that has authorities on the hunt this morning. "today in the bay" starts right now. and a very good now thursday morning to you. thanks for joining us. i'm laura garcia-cannon. >> and i'm sam brock is. we are already starting today out in the mid 60s, there's only one place to go up. let's check in with meteorologist kari hall. >> it's going to be a hot one as we go into the afternoon, we do have some cool spots like the north bay with clear skies, it's in the lower 50s, but then you head down to the east bay and it's 65 degrees.

expect a high in the east bay of 80 degrees, 75 in san francisco, check out the north bay, 92 degrees, 90 in the south bay and the tri-valley near 100 degrees today. i will talk more about that, what to expect even as we head into the weekend coming up let's get a look at the commute. we will also go to the tri-valley but we are looking at 580 westbound moves smoothly but you to have company here. we will look at your map. we are lighting up some of the sensors from green to yellow coming into livermore, just the build. a slight one coming this it westbound as you typically see. tri-valley no problem. the south bay no issues as far as incidents go. we have a smooth drive, that crash at whipple still affects a the off ramp from northbound 101. though to our continuing coverage on the tv news crew shooting in virginia. a community in mourning after two journalists are killed doing what they loved. both were preparing to begin exciting new chapters this their personal lives when the alleged