that breaking news is in the south bay -- crews are still on the scene of a ar and that breaking news is happening in the south bay. crews are still on the scene of a four-alarm fire that has sparked evacuations at a mobile home park. the flames erupted shortly before 3:00 this morning at a strip mall in san jose. this is on center road not far from coyote creek and highway 101. several stores are up in flames right now. the fire also threatens surrounding apartments and mobile homes. falling embers from the fire caused the evacuation of several of those homes. no word yet on injuries or the cause of this fire. stay with us, though. we will continue to bring you

the latest updates as we get them. good morning and thank you for joining us. i'm vicky nguyen. let's take a look outside at san jose. a chilly start to your morning. we've got upper 50s in most places right now. but we're looking at a beautiful day across the bay area. take a look at those temperatures. san jose hitting 78. redwood city, you'll get to 77. and out in san francisco, you're looking at low 70s. let's take you to the north bay now. napa is looking at a temperature of 81 degrees. santa rosa, 85. in oakland, you're seeing 77 and a little hotter in pleasanton at 83 degrees. new video this morning, a spectacle in the sky. we want to show you this storm that rocked the east bay from antioch to benicia. several cities saw a show of lightning, heavy rain and big am boos. this happened from about midnight till 2:00 this morning. pretty incredible there. and incredibly strong winds across the bay area as well. doing some damage. check out this tree that came

down on a car in the town of inverness. that's happening in marin county. there is also damage in san francisco and the east bay. there's that tree we want to show you. a high wind advisory is in effect for the bay bridge and the san mateo bridge. that also applies to the north and east bay hills above 1,000 feet in san francisco near golden gate park. yesterday's winds blew down metal gates near a music festival. tree branches also toppled over south of market and in the mission district. a gusty evening threw off plans for some folks on the peninsula. >> we were actually at our garage sale fund-raiser. and everything blew away, and we had all of our costumes were blowing away and things were falling on the ground. >> some people said the winds were so strong, they had difficulty driving. we are learning more this morning about the shooting at rosburg community college.

chris mercer apparently shot himself when confronted by officers on thursday. that's after he killed nine other people. authorities say mercer was armed with six guns. they found seven more in the apartment he shared with his mother. family members of the victims say they are trying to cope with their losses. some issued statements through authorities. >> i don't know how we're going to move forward with our lives without flynn. our lives are shattered beyond repair. >> police also revealed the gunman was enrolled in the writing class where he opened fire. meanwhile, we are beginning to hear the stories from those who were there at the community college. one survivor's family is speaking out. 16-year-old cheyenne fitzgerald was shot in the back during the massacre. her family says she is now fighting to recover. >> healing is going to be slow. but i know my daughter's very strong, and she's going to get through this.

>> so far fitzgerald has lost a kidney. she remains in intensive care. one other person is hospitalized and expected to recover. nbc bay area will continue to have complete coverage of the school shooting in oregon. go to our website any time for the latest information. nbcbayarea.com. deputies in california's gold country say they have foiled a murderous plot by four teenagers. the county sheriff says the summerville high school students planned to open fire on campus, and they had the names of potential victims and detailed plans. deputies say all four teenagers have been arrested. this happened when fellow students tipped off deputies after noticing suspicious behavior from the suspects. >> their willingness to get involved and report what they say prevented what well could have been another needless tragedy. >> see something, say something, as authorities say. investigators say this plot was in its early stages.

none of the suspects' names will be released because they are juveniles. the hunt continues for a man accused of killing his own mother. fremont police say they found the woman's body in an apartment near fremont boulevard and mowri avenue. it happened tuesday morning during a welfare check. police believe this man, omar pettigan is responsible. they say he lived with his mother in the apartment. they believe he is on the run in san francisco or oakland. neighbors say they are distraught after hearing about this grisly crime. >> we are very sorry for the lady because she was really nice. >> it's very surprising hearing about a murder next door. >> the murder has even prompted one of the neighbors to move out. officers say the suspect may be armed and dangerous. now to a developing story in afghanistan. taliban fighters in kunduz were still holding out against afghan troops this morning despite

government claims they have taken control of the area. kunduz has been the scene of fierce fighting since it was captured by the taliban almost a week ago. afghan security forces fought their way into the city four days ago, but battles continue in many places. an american airstrike aimed at taliban militants early saturday morning killed at least 19 people and injured dozens more. many of them civilians. it happened at a hospital run by the aid organization doctors without borders. a military spokesman says u.s. forces were trying to support the afghan army, but the strike may have resulted in, quote, collateral damage. >> so really don't understand and we definitely do not accept collateral damage as we have in the beginning in the first reaction. we want an explanation very fast, and we want an independent investigation to be started. >> doctors without borders says there were no insurgents in the

facility at the time of the bombing. the pentagon says a full investigation is under way. much more ahead on "today in the bay." coming up, a man wanted in connection with a double murder has been found after a year on the run. how social media played a role. also, will the oakland a's become the san jose a's? the decision coming this week that could decide the team's fate. welcome to fort green sheets. welcome to castle bravestorm. it's full of cool stuff, like my second in command... and my trusty bow. and free of stuff i don't like. and in my castle we only eat chex cereal. chex cereal. it's full of delicious crunchability. no artificial flavors, and it's gluten-free. and that's something even my brother ...

sister can understand. mom, brian threw a ball in the house!

7:09. let's give you a live look outside at the golden gate bridge. some chilly temperatures to start your day, but it should be pretty mild and moderate fall weather across the bay. and traffic moving nicely there on the golden gate bridge. well, finally found, the fbi now has a fugitive wanted in a double murder during a gang fight in watsonville last year. agents say marcos daniel robles killed one man outside a motel, and during that shootout, a

stray bullet hit and killed 4-year-old jaylynn zavala in a nearby restaurant. the fbi turned to witnesses who saw the posting on facebook gave authorities a tip the 23-year-old was in mexico. agents found robles and returned him to the u.s. they also capture d his girlfriend. she is now facing charges for helping him. he is charged with two counts of murder. two boaters are safe this morning thanks to several good samaritans and a chp helicopter team. their boat capsized in the area of ten mile beach and ft. bragg. one of the victims was able to make it to a log on the beach where the good samaritans sheltered her from winds until help arrived. the other was found on a beach until other emergency crews got there. thechp lifted them to safety. thousands of people joined a

global march this weekend to safe endangered elephants and rhinos. march for elephants is calling for governments to stop poaching them for their ivory and horns. they say it's a global crisis, but they're focused on ending the practice specifically in one country. >> china is the largest trader of illegal ivory, and they've stated a number of times that they are going to shut the ivory trade down. and our message here today is to call on beijing and ask them when. when will they shut the ivory trade down? >> over 130 countries participated in yesterday's rally. conservationists say if people don't stop poaching elephants and rhinos for ivory and horns, the animals are in danger of becoming extinct within a generation. in the wine country, but it wasn't planned. spilled grapes covered highway 29 yesterday after a double-trailer big rig tumbled over in napa. lanes were shut down about an

hour as crews tried to pick up the mess. caltrans had to use a scraper truck and sweeper to clear the grapes. we don't yet know what caused this spill. still to come on "today in the bay," frustrated 49er fans. the trouble season ticket holders say they're running into as the team gears up for a big game today at levi's stadium. inchtsds today tie yawn becomed the first to launch a state-sponsored incubator. the former president of yale sits down to discuss the future of education, all today at 9:00.

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no artificial flavors, and no high fructose corn syrup. we want to give you a live look outside from our sky camera network right now at san francisco. a little bit of a hazy start. you are waking up to temperatures in the 50s. but we're looking at 70s and 80s across the bay today. well, remember all of those ice bucket challenges? that was the theme of this weekend's als walk in san jose. the first walk of the year for the south bay als goldman west chapter brought out hundreds of people to raise money and awareness about als. walkers made their way along the guadalupe river trail and then

juniourneyed through downtown s jose. als is also known as lou gehrig's disease. it's the disease that attacks nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. >> we are on the cusp of finding treatment alternatives and potentially a cure. our motto is we never give up. and the time is now. >> that's a good motto. the gold. west chapter serves 1300 people with als from orange county to the oregon border. a major decision on the oakland a's potential move to the south bay could come in the next few days. the supreme court could announce as early as tomorrow whether it will take up san jose's antitrust case against major league baseball. right now the big leagues can block the a's from moving to san jose. san jose city leaders argued the league has undermined the a's desire to move to a new downtown ballpark near the train station. but mlb says the south bay is considered giants territory. oakland city leaders continue to

look for ways to keep the team in the east bay. we are just hours away from kickoff. the 49ers are getting ready for a key matchup against one of the game's best quarterbacks. former cal star aaron rodgers and the green bay packers. but the focus may be more on the fans and their seats. 49ers season ticket holders are looking to dump their expensive seats, but it's not easy with the team struggling on and off the field. "today in the bay's" chuck coppola has more on the growing rush to offload tickets. >> reporter: despite the home opener victory against minnesota, the 49ers' on-field struggles since, offfield run-ins with the law and personnel changes have boxed in season ticket holders, many of whom are now trying to sell some of their tickets for at least a modest profit. >> it was nice to break even last season. >> reporter: last year bruce got good deals for his tickets. >> i got a round-trip ticket to new york city.

to the seattle game, i sold about $400 and the kansas city game, about $350 or something like that. >> reporter: for each seat? >> yes. >> reporter: not bad for a ticket with $150 face value. but now it's break even, at best. another reason why it's hard to resell tickets this year, the 49ers issued season tickets online only, meaning no more tickets on cardstock that became keepsakes and simplified transactions. >> a lot of people like to see the hard ticket. they want to have it in their hand, see that it's real. there's a lot of scams going on out there. i think people are afraid that it could be fake. >> reporter: the 49ers say that is not a big issue. of approximately 20,000 season ticket accounts, we have only heard from around 100 account holders asking for printed tickets. chuck coppola, nbc bay area news. scientists have predicted a record el nino year. and some think we're already experiencing the signs. researchers who have been

observing and documenting the signs out at sea, "today in the bay's" joe risotto jr. takes us on their journey. >> conditions fair. >> reporter: in the orange dawn of the bay area -- >> we're going to go west a little bit further. >> reporter: a research boat heads out of sausalito past the golden gate and into the pacific ocean. >> begin line six. >> reporter: for ten days, this team of ocean researchers is cruising the gulf of fairlawns marine sanctuary, taking its scientific snapshot of the ocean's life. >> our sampling effort looks at birds, mammals, krills, boat activity. >> reporter: this year researchers are witnessing signs of something unusual. >> the ocean has been really warm because of the presence of that, the blob. >> reporter: the blob is a name scientists have given to the pockets of unusually warm water lingering along the west coast. some believe it's a sign of the

coming el nino. researcher jaime and his team use nets to collect and study krill, a prime food source for birds and whales. so far the samples also point to el nino-like conditions. >> most of them, they were fairly small. >> earlier this year when we should have been seeing a lot of krill, we're really not. >> reporter: the research nets also turned up something quite unusual. a small red crab found in warm waters of southern california. >> the last time i personally saw in this region red crab was in the 1983/'84 el nino. >> reporter: other southern california residents making surprise bay area appearances, sunfish and dolphins. >> we've seen anywhere from 150 to 200 common dolphins. it's a good sign that the water is warmer than what we normally see. and that's a sign of el nino.

>> reporter: part of the team's research involves cruising set paths of ocean, recording every bird, every mammal in sight. >> one california sea lion. >> reporter: and occasionally comes the telltale spout of a whale. >> right there. >> reporter: with fewer krill out at sea, whales have begun moving closer to shore to dine on fish. >> this is basically the best restaurant on the west coast. >> this information is used to help us understand how the ocean ecosystem here and the sanctuaries is thriving. california. >> reporter: this annual expedition is nature's ultimate reality show. currents of life and death churning just west of the gate. joe risotto jr., nbc bay area news. when "today in the bay" returns -- >> starting to become an important part of life. >> teaching something new with the help of an age-old tradition. family game night.

that story is part of our "bay area proud" series. stay with us. [announcer] you're on the right track to save big during sleep train's triple choice sale. for a limited time, you can choose up to 48 months interest-free financing on a huge selection of tempur-pedic models. or choose to save $300 on beautyrest and posturepedic mattress sets. you can even choose $300 in free gifts with sleep train's most popular stearns & foster mattresses. the triple choice sale -- on now at sleep train. ♪ sleep train ♪ your ticket to a better night's sleep ♪

it's the way of the future. we've all heard the buzz. teach your kids how to code. it's the way of the future. but what if you don't know how to code yourself? a santa clara second grader may be able to help. garvin thomas is here with the game she and her parents invented. >> samyra says a board game that teaches you something is not a new concept. how many kids learn something about real estate from monopoly or spelling from scrabble? it's an old trick that she says can still be used to learn new things. >> i want to go first. >> reporter: being accused of playing by your own set of rules is almost never a compliment. 8-year-old samyra, though, she can't help it. >> yes. >> reporter: around the family game table, they are her rules.

because you see, she invented the game. >> it makes me really happy because people really like my game. >> reporter: it's called coder bunnies, and samyra, her mother and father have spent the better part of a year creating it. going through who knows how many prototypes until finding one they think people will like. samyra said she came up with the concept while thinking how she should combine her favorite things. board games, bunnies, and learning to code. yes, computer code. >> yeah, trying to make young kids excited about coding. but not exactly getting on the computer and doing coding. by playing a board game and coding. hello and welcome, everyone. >> reporter: samyra has been holding workshops this fall introducing other kids to her game. players move around the board in ways that mimic some of the basics of code writing. sequencing, conditional, debugging. they learn as they play. >> it's very important.

coding is starting to become an important part of life. okay. now. >> reporter: the family has plans, they hope, to one day put the game into mass production. still, they say, even if they never make a ton of money, they will have had a ton of fun. and maybe helped the next generation technology titans make their first move in the right direction. if inventing board games weren't enough, samyra describes herself also as a singer, songwriter, ice skater, and origami enthusiast. that's a busy girl. garvin thomas, nbc bay area news. >> what a cutie. if you know of someone doing something nice for others like myra, just go to our website, nbcbayarea.com and search bay area proud. "today in the bay" is back in two minutes. coming up, despite not making a direct hit on the u.s., hurricane joaquin has still done damage.

we'll show you the major flooding in the south that has president obama calling for a state of emergency. plus -- >> they said if you won't -- if you won't sign this citation, we're bringing handcuffs in. >> children in the bay area arrested at school for what some parents call childish behavior. we investigate why schools are bypassing the principal and calling the police on children as young as 6 years old. that sound. like nails on a chalkboard.

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good morning. your time now is 7:28. we want to give you a live look at san francisco. a little hazy but you can see the golden gate bridge off in the distance there. we're going to hit 70s and 80s. good morning. thank you so much for waking up with us this sunday. i'm vicky nguyen alongside anthony slaughter standing by with a look at that forecast. good morning to you. >> good morning. yes, it is going to be a nice

day. we had a few showers overnight. some places near fairfield saw a few thunderstorms this morning. we had a storm system dive south overnight. that's going to continue to keep the chance of a few clouds through the day. but we're not talking about any rain today. the showers we had, those moved out of the area. you'll notice temperatures coming down a little bit. you may have them a nip in the air overnight. much cooler. 72 san francisco. 78 for the east bay. 78 as well for the peninsula. the inland valleys will get close to 80 like the south bay and tri-valley. north bay will see temperatures in the 80s. a warm day there at least for the inland valleys. temperatures cool off towards next week and we may have another chance of rain to talk about. it's rainy season. coming up in my next forecast. >> venniceesventheesh. the breaking news we told you about at the top of the hour, a live look at crews still on scene. they're cleaning up a four-alarm fire in the south bay. it sparked evacuations at a

nearby mobile home park. the flames erupted shortly before 3:00 this morning at a strip mall on center road not far from coyote creek and highway 101. several stores went up in flames. the fire also threatened surrounding apartments and mobile homes. >> what they say was a grocery store that had large amounts of smoke coming out of it. the fire was visible from the outside of the building. what that means is that there's a big fire someplace inside the building creating all that smoke that's pushing out. >> no reports of any injuries. you can see, though, how close the fire got to some of those homes. people have now been allowed to return home. the fire has been contained, but there is no word yet on what caused it. new video this morning. a spectacle in the sky. take a look at this storm that rocked the east bay. from antioch to benicia, several cities saw a show of lightning. there was also heavy rain and big booms of thunder. this happened from midnight till

about 2:00 this morning. incredibly strong winds across the bay area also changed the landscape. check out this tree that came down on a car in the town of inverness. that's in marin county. there's also damage in san francisco and the east bay from the wind. a high wind advisory is in effect for the bay bridge and the san mateo bridge. that also applies to the north and east bay hills anywhere above 1,000 feet. in san francisco, near golden gate park, yesterday's winds blew down metal gates near the music festival. tree branches also toppled over in the south of market and mission zrindistricts. a gusty evening threw off the plans for some folks on the peninsula. >> we were actually at our garage sale fund-raiser. and everything blew away, and we had all of our costumes were blowing away, and things were falling on the ground. >> some people said the winds were so strong, they had difficulty driving. happening now, a powerful weekend storm pounds the east

coast, delivering record rainfall and devastating floods. the united states may have dodged a direct hit by hurricane joaquin. but that storm is still wreaking havoc across at least seven states. it is a state of emergency in south carolina. meteorologists are calling this a once-in-200-years rain event with heavy rain. at least five deaths have been reported since rains began spreading over the eastern seaboard. about 22 million americans remain under flood watch. rescue crews are telling folks if you don't have to go out, don't. they've been rescuing people from cars, and they continue to be bombarded with hundreds of calls for help. well, when it comes to disciplining kids at school, you might think the severity of their actions would be the only factor in deciding punishment, but our investigator unit found the color of your child's skin or whether or not your child has a disability can actually increase the chance that the police are brought in to deal

with the child at school. investigative reporter begad shaban uncovered what happens to hundreds of students across the bay area. >> reporter: how schools work to keep their students safe can vary widely. some districts contract with police departments to place officers right at schools. the practice began in the '50s and started growing in the 'le 80s and '90s to weed out drugs, violence and weapons. but opponents are saying officers are now being brought into the classroom for far less, blurring the lines between childive misbehavior and criminal activity. >> next up, there's worms. follow me, chickens. >> reporter: he's a visual learner. so a few years ago, when his teacher assigned him a project to research animals, adrian's parents bought these chickens. while adrian looks, sounds and

plays like your typical teenager, he struggles socially. adrian is autistic. >> uh-oh. the other chickens are, like, aha! >> reporter: and his mother, ada, says he has trouble grasping certain concepts. >> the ability to understand rules, regulations, expectations, social behavior, especially in the case of adrian as it is with many other autistics, they do not understand that. >> reporter: two years ago adrian was at his school in san jose when he used a small rock to etch the letters adrx on the sidewalk. the abbreviation is how aiden also signs his name. the letters just six inches tall, but the school believed they were big enough reason to involve campus police. adrian was arrested at 13. >> i thought maybe someone would look at it and say oh, look, a legend. look, a legend. this is so cool. a legend was at this school.

>> reporter: you thought leaving your initials would leave you a legacy. >> yes. i thought i did something awesome, but then they called me to the office and said hey, you did something wrong. i think we have to call the cops on you now. >> reporter: how did you react? >> fear -- fear. fear. >> reporter: and were you crying? >> i was bawling. they said if you won't sign this citation, we're bringing handcuffs in. >> reporter: adrian wasn't handcuffed, but he was given this juvenile citation which means he now has an arrest on his criminal record. >> the crime is vandalism. >> reporter: adrian's mom recorded this video the day her son was arrested. the school resource officers with san jose police. that department wouldn't provide anyone to talk with us on camera but did confirm the arrest. >> for me, it was like the end of the world. because it's your child. it's your baby.

>> reporter: to find out how often schools call police on their students, we collected data from 20 of some of the largest school districts in the bay area, home to over 370,000 students. our investigation found those schools sent more than 1800 students to police during the 2013/2014 school year. while children with disabilities made up 10% of the population, they totaled 27% of all students referred to law enforcement. black children represented 9% of the population. but 16% of all the students referred to police. >> budgets have been squeezed in california. >> reporter: attorney nelson is with the aclu and believes those rates were made worse after budget cuts left california schools with fewer counselors. so educators relied on school resource officers to discipline students. >> police tend to approach conflict by arresting people rather than having a more supportive approach to keep kids

in school and out of trouble. >> reporter: so an incident that could have landed a student in the principal's office could in some districts very well equate to criminal charges against the student. >> that's correct. sort of the worst-case scenario is that the charges are referred to the district attorney and the child ends up charged with a crime. hopefully it will be dismissed. >> reporter: hazen has seen it happen. her team at the law foundation of silicon valley provides legal advocacy for children and teens. many of those clients were referred to police while at school. >> some of the cases that we hear about are as young as first grade. >> reporter: so as young as 6 years old. >> that's correct. they're not behaving in a way that a reasonable adult would behave. they're children. so they're, you know, they may be talking back to the teacher. they may be, you know, hitting or kicking. >> reporter: don bridges is with the national association of school resource officers. and says police should only be called for serious safety concerns.

not routine misbehavior. >> when we have officers that are in the school that are dealing with the discipline issues, that's when we have problems. >> reporter: he says schools that choose to have police on campus should have a written agreement to outline an officer's responsibilities. >> so that everyone stays in their lane. >> reporter: 85% of the bay area districts we looked at have officers on campus. but our investigation found of those, only 35% have agreements with police to detail the role of officers. san jose unified, the school district overseeing adrian's old school, does not have that kind of agreement. the superintendent, dr. vincent matthews, wouldn't talk to us on camera about the district's policies or what happened to adrian. in a statement, a district spokesperson told us their resource officers complete a separate training program through the san jose police department that covers building good relationships with kids, how to talk to students and how to serve as role models and mentors. but what the school district

calls a training program actually lasts about 30 minutes according to san jose police. the department of justice recommends 40 hours worth of training through the national association of school resource officers. and as for adrian's now infamous signature -- soap and water wiped it right off. adrian's parents made him clean it up. much harder to erase was the impact. >> for really a long time, adrian would not leave the house. >> reporter: adrian still gets nervous going beyond his backyard. >> they made me feel fear. >> reporter: how do you think the school should have handled that situation? >> they should have called my mom. we should have just cleaned it up, and we did. we should have just cleaned it up and just get on with the school day. >> reporter: you think you could have learned your lesson without the police being there. >> yes. >> reporter: addirian had to wa nervously for four months to learn whether he would face criminal charges.

a probation officer decided to close the case, but it remains on his criminal record and could stay there even as an adult and could affect his job prospects since it would show up on background checks. back to you. still ahead on "today in the bay," as baseball season comes to an end, college football moves to the forefront. how cal and stanford fared against their pac-12 rivals.

welcome to fort green sheets. welcome to castle bravestorm. it's full of cool stuff, like my second in command... and my trusty bow. and free of stuff i don't like. and in my castle we only eat chex cereal. chex cereal. it's full of delicious crunchability. no artificial flavors, and it's gluten-free. and that's something even my brother ...

sister can understand. mom, brian threw a ball in the house! season for the giants and a's. as we alow today is the last day of the season for the giants and the a's, as we all know. no playoffs for either team this season. yesterday the giants beat the rockies 3-2, and the a's beat the mariners 7-5 in 13 innings. we want to take to you college football now. stanford hosting the arizona wildcats. the cardinal had control of this one from the get-go. wright with a big day. the running back scored three touchdowns, leading the cardinal to a 55-17 drubbing.

arizona. over to berkeley now. cal taking on washington state. the cougars gave the bears all they could handle. cal quarterback jared gough, four touchdown passes on the day. the golden bears come from behind to beat washington state, 34-28. and still to come on "today in the bay," why a group of democratic legislators with a hollywood nickname is siding with conservatives at the state capitol. political analyst larry gerstin explains next. then a real-life david versus goliath story. a brave bulldog faces off with two massive forest animals in this video you don't want to miss. good morning. there's lots to do today in the bay. every first saturday of october, fremont hosts the olive festival. and i know it's sunday. this is also the first sunday of this festival as this is the first year it's been expanded the full weekend held on the dominican grounds behind fremont's historic old mission san jose museum. here you can learn about the

history of the area, enjoy food, drink, arts, crafts and, of course, the olives, the olive oils and related creations from the fruit of those iconic peace branches. and from the dominican grounds in fremont to common ground in the south bay, specifically the parking lot at the corner of dana and bryant in downtown mountain view, where they've created a huge 7,000-foot beer garden for the mv oktoberfest. you'll have your beverages and kids can get their hops in the jumpy houses plus great german cuisine, live music from the alpiners usa, sf german band, and big lou's accordion princess. wow. let's make one final transition from opening garden to open house. open firehouse, that is. redwood city fire station 9 and san carlos's fire station 13, they're going to both be open to the public today with educational family-oriented activities. meet the firefighters, see the engines, ask them why they wear those red suspenders, this is all in the spirit of fire

prevention week which starts today. and the workweek starts tomorrow when i'll be back to help you with delay prevention for your morning commute right here on "today in the bay." the "mod squad" has descended on

the california legislature. no, not the tv crime series from the 1960s and 70s, but a the mod squad has descended on the california legislature. not the series but a group of democratic legislators with the same name. we talked with political analyst larry gerstin and asked him about these lawmakers with this hollywood nickname. >> not quite, although there are plenty of times when we see a lot of high drama in sacramento when you're looking at the california legislature. fwh th in this case, this is all about the down side of excess, if you will, the california democrats. really, they've become overwhelming majority in both chambers of the legislature. yet when the current session ended just a few weeks ago, wow! they suffered a series of stunning defeats, major environmental bills, a proposed increase in the state minimum wage.

and for increased alcohol taxes. these are just a few of the many, many democratic-sponsored bills, sponsored also by the democratic leadership, endorsed by those guys. nonetheless, they failed to emerge from the legislature this year. and as a result, as a result, vickie, several liberal democrats and their supporters, well, they left sacramento with a lot of egg on their faces. >> why? what do you think contributed to these defeats? >> okay. let's start with this. two answers. basically. california's relatively new top two primary system, the thing we're still trying to get used to, and the management of the system by normally republican-friendly business interests. now, i'll explain. we know that california is a blue state. absolutely blue. so it should be no surprise that the top two system often produces two democrats. two democrats out of the primary which ensures that the democrats will win in november.

okay, good enough. business interests normally aligned with republicans have figured this out. they've assessed this new reality. and so recently they've begun to support moderate democrats who now amount to maybe a dozen or so members of the democratic party, hence the name, these moderates, the mod squad. that's why they've come to be called that. now, during the last few months, in this particular cycle, these business-friendly democrats often shied away from supporting the proposed liberal bills by the liberal democrats, okay, and instead they combined with republicans to defeat a number of these very important liberal bills. >> so this seems like smart politics. there's nothing wrong here. there's nothing illegal happening. it's the republicans have tuned in and understood, hey, if we're going to get republicans no matter what out of this top two system -- sorry, democrats out of this top two system, what should we do to make sure they're somewhat on our side or we can convince them to vote our way? >> you're right, first of all, nothing wrong, nothing illegal,

no question about that. we can say, however, that the outcomes have been confusing. we know that historically we know this, vickie, democrats have supported labor, such as raising minimum wage or increasing taxes. that's what democrats do, especially taxes on business and the wealthy. republicans historically have opposed these measures. it's harmful to the economy. as harming free enterprise. we know this. this is the way they work. but in these cases, in these cases, the party label in this traditionally blue state, well, it just doesn't add up. it doesn't always produce those liberal results that some people might expect. why? because of the alliance between republican legislators and, yes, the mod squad. this, no doubt, is a relief to the business interests while confounding liberals. >> is this something that kind of -- the takeaway here that you can't tell a republican from a democrat quite so easily anymore. >> back to sheep's clothing, i

guess, that kind of thing. look, we know this. it's important to realize that the rules of the system such as we have now with the top two primary changed the outcome. so with this new top two primary system in place, voters need to realize that a candidate's democratic or republican label for that matter won't necessarily tell the whole story. so more than ever it means we've got to do more of our homework beyond just looking at that traditional "d" or "r." >> always important to know the candidates, know what they actually stand for, not just the party they belong to. >> get beyond that label, get into the substance of what they're about. >> okay. larry, great advice, as always. thank you for joining us. stay with us. we'll be right back.

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welcome back. want to start you off with this shot from tiburon. we've got some sunshine here this morning. a little bit of fog that's dissipated over the golden gate bridge. overall, a sunny afternoon. temperatures warming nicely. it was a little chily yesterday and temperatures have come back down into the low 50s as opposed to upper 50s. a sure sign that fall is here. temperatures later will be comfortable. 72 for san francisco. 78 for the east bay. same deal for the peninsula. 80 for the south bay. 85 for the north bay. tri-valley will see temperatures right in the upper 70s once again. a little bit cooler from what we saw yesterday. if you're doing any traveling across the state today, even over towards vegas, we're

talking about showers and thunderstorms. an area of low pressure. that dove south overnight. that's what dropped our temperatures and picked up our winds. even some showers expected today for tahoe. look at those temperatures in the 50s and 60s there. now, there is a storm system that dove south. it was up across the pacific northwest yesterday. it continues to make it southward advance and will continue to make its way out of the region. and as it does, for us, skies will continue to clear. for the rest of the week, though, we're talking about the return of morning fog and then maybe, just maybe, another chance of rain as we head towards the latter part of this upcoming week. but let's talk about hurricane joaquin. we've been talking about this all week and into the weekend. yesterday it was a category 4. it's now a category 2. winds up to 110. it is going to continue to make its way out over open water. it already has dumped some really impressive amounts of rain across parts of south carolina. by tuesday, it's going to continue to drift out over towards the open sea and will eventually weaken towards just a tropical storm. look at this, though. we're talking about such a fine line of where the rain will

fall. who will see it. and who's not really going to get anything. you can see near charlotte, only expecting about a tenth of an inch. up towards new york, philadelphia, a few hundredths. the main brunt of this system at least where it's already moved over towards, south carolina. that's where they'll see the heaviest rain. over near charleston, augusta, near georgia as well. and greenville as well. so for us here at home, no major changes in our forecast. unfortunately, we already saw that brief passing shower that moved through and we'll continue to see skies clear today. same deal for tomorrow and the next couple days. no big changes in our forecast coming unfortunately for us. even at the coastline, sframp s francisco, back into the 60s, a little cooler for tomorrow but really over the next couple of days, it's kind of status quo across the bay area, although we have started october and our forward march towards rain season continues. of course, looking back at the data over the next couple months, november, december things really start to get going then. we'll keep our fingers crossed. we still have a few more weeks to get through october.

this week just no rain in the forecast. >> well, we certainly had a nice taste of it last night in benicia with the lightning storms and thunder. >> it was really chilly outside. >> yeah, cold. very windy. >> felt like fall. >> yes. we're looking forward to it and you think el nino's going to bring us some rainfall. >> i really do. at least near average. >> great. anthony, thanks. it is a battle of david and goliath. and in this case, david wins. two curious bears decided to check out this southern california home this week. yes, check it out. but a 20-pound french bulldog had other ideas. huh-uh. he was able to successfully scare off the bears. and he chased them away from the house. look at that. amazing. right over the fence, too. they look like bear cubs. >> it looks like bear cubs. that's what i thought. i didn't know that was the dog. >> he's outnumbered and they certainly outweigh that little guy. >> it's always the little ones, right? >> don't you love that video, though? imagine you're the dog's owner and you come home to your security camera and you see that. thanks so much for making us

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. this sunday, another mass shooting. and the question -- why does america lead the pack? is there anything to be done to stop gun violence? plumy latest it isdown with donald trump and his surprising comments about what it would take to drop out. >> i'm not a mass kis and if i was dropping in the polls where i saw that i wasn't going to win, why would i continue? also, is trump holding his lead? is clinton holding off bernie sanders? we have new numbers out of iowa and new hampshire. and russia joins the fight in