morning drive and we'll start with kari hall who has that microclimate forecast. >> we still do have lingering rain across parts of the bay area as we get a view of the south bay and the east bay, some rain still moving in from that system that is bringing some flooding rains to parts of southern california. here in the bay area, we'll have that rain lingering for a little while longer and then clearing out after starting out the temperatures in the low 60s. we're heading into the 70s and low 80s. a very comfortable afternoon with more sunshine and breezy winds. we'll take a look at another chance of rain in the forecast for the weekend. let's check in now with mike and getting us a view of what's happening at the bay bridge. >> we'll show you the span across. westbound, your commute correction. the metering lights are on keeping traffic lighter on the span and have some slowing as you head in towards the tunnel which is typical as it's building. we look at the map and the backup over at the toll plaza goingñi back towards the burber curve. top of your screen slowing and coming down through richmond and

approaching the merge. all tracked if the chp has any incidents that happened over there. the rash between two big rigs and right around san ramon boulevard and still blocks your slow lane and a fuel spill they have to clean up. another crash over there and no details on lane but i'll track it because you'll see the slowing come in out of dublin towards livermore, as well. rest of your bay looks really nice. gentle build for 101 and peninsula is clear. back to you. developing right now, if your plans include a trip down to southern california, you might want to think again. torrential downpours, heavy hail and massive mudslides slamming the area north of los angeles and right now a part of i-5 is shut down as crews scramble to try to clear the roadway. >> bob redell is here now. amazingly, no one hurt so far. >> kris and sam, which is remarkable when you see how severe the flooding been in southern california. part of the problem is that all that rock and soil in the state

has been loosened by the drought and wildfire. so, when you have lots of rain and flash floods, you're going to end up with river of mud. this is the scene 65 miles north of los angeles where the storm is, you can see, swept away cars. filled some homes with muck, knee deep in some parts. and then drivers on i-5 traveling over the grapevine were surprised to see a mound of boulders and dirt coming at them. one driver said the debris lifted up car and spun it around like it was nothing. >> my wife rolled her window down and that's when it was just -- it was just like a freight train coming through your house. it really was. it was loud. it was really loud. >> all the stuck vehicles have since been removed, but both directions of i-5 still shut down at the grapevine as cal trans brings in heavy equipment to move mud and debris. before cal trans will reopen the

road. the estimated time of reoep oening is around 2:00 this afternoon. right i want to bring in meteorologist kari hall. we're talking about the weather in southern california. will they get a break today? >> lookingilate a little bit b for them. one of the systems that was slow to move and kind of a preview, unfortunately, of what we may see more of as we head into the winter. looking at the radar now, you can still see some heavy rain, but it is moving farther off to the east and that system will continue to move out as we head into the weekend. that area of low pressure moving more over towards the southwest over towards utah and colorado as we go into the weekend. so good news for them and also another system moving in that could bring us some rain in the bay area. but, of course, not that much. i'll talk more about that coming up a little bit later. >> kari, thank you very much. 6:03 and a live report coming up from one of the hardest hit areas. always visit our website,

nbcbayarea.com or download our app. while you are maybe shortening your showers or letting your lawn go brown, there is a hometown hero using as much water per day as 21 families put together. oakland a's baseball executive billy beane is the third person on the east bay mud list and water ways. number one is this man, retired chevron oil executive kirkland. they both live in danville. beane is using just short of 6,000 gallons of watt arday after kirkland more than 12,000 gallons a day. that is 48 times the district average. those numbers are not sitting well with people who are going out of their way to conserve. >> i make sure we save the dishes until dinnertime and my daughters, they are not allowed to have showers every night. >> beane told a local newspaper that he tried to cut back this summer, but he has too much landscaping to contend with. kirkland told nbc bay area that had a leak in a water line that

flows into his vineyard, which may have contributed to his high number. he says he is working to get it fixed right now. meantime, happening today, new water restrictions going into effect in benicia. that means sprinklers are only going to be limited to use on either saturday or sunday and it has to be before 8:00 in the morning or after 7:00 at night. the city council decided to make those changes last year in response to california's historic drought. happening now, a sinkhole in union city turning into a major problem. this is a live look at the crews trying to fix it right now. they had to it even deeper. it started as a six by eight-foot sinkhole wednesday is now 55 feet across and ten feet deep this morning. crews are digging to make sure there isn't more damage toñr a brokener main. and now that busy road in union city will be closed until at least tuesday. this is all happening at the intersection of alvarado

boulevard and right near alvarado middle school. people are worried not just about the water and the sinkhole, but about the gas lines that run through there, too. >> just really crazy to see something like this. >> we're methodically exposing the pipe. being careful of the other utilities in the hole. >> now, union city public works and the alameda county water district say they still don't know what caused the initial sinkhole. the parents have students at alvarado middle school, once again, being told to drop their kids off at the fredi street entrance. they had deuta hole in the fence to help those kids get on to campus. >> need hiking boots to get into school. things right now flowing smoothly on the golden gate bridge as we take a live look outside this morning. not too much traffic. much different scene than last night. take a look at this. the evening commute snarled and brought to a standstill. that is a car, a toyota camry

that caught fire on the span around 5:30 last night. everyone inside the car made it out safely. but all northbound lanes were closed for about 45 minutes as crews extenguished those flames and tried to move the car. no word yet on what the cause of that fire was. well, we'll shoot the children. that's what armed robbers told an east bay mother who they ambushed at gunpoint and robbed inside her own home. now hercules police are on the hunt. on the board of hercules. more with now who police are looking for and what a terrifying thing for a family to go through, damian. >> sure it was. police here in hercules are looking for a black man in his 20s and asian american man also in his 20s. this family was terrorized and police now are looking for those two armed suspects around this vicinity. now, it happened in the 200 block of cinnibar way on

wednesday night. police say a 47-year-old mother parked her car in the driveway with her two children and her elderly mother. that's when the suspects arrived and pulled guns on the family. they had a semi automatic handgun and was described as a black hillitary-style rifle. police say the suspects said they would, again, shoot the children ages 9 and 10 unless their mother told them where the safe was located. the mother complied and the suspects the contents. but before they left, they disabled the victim's phone and locked the entire family in the room. >> i am really surprised. it doesn't happen like that around here. but then you never know. it's very quiet. quiet neighborhood. but stuff happens everywhere. >> police say the suspects were dressed alike. the first suspect is described an asian male in his 20s and both wearing black hooded sweatshirts and black pants and dark colored bandanna or ski mask covering their faces. both suspects dressed the same,

dark colored pant. there was a get away car, so police are looking for potentially a third su. we're live in hercules, i'm damon truujillo. lots of questions in one north bay county grappling with a judge's decision. for two years the state has sought a home for frasier smith, a sexually violent predator every step of the way. now opponents fought his release. a judge ruled smith has done his time and must be released in solano county by the end of november. that's even if no home for can be found. >> he's been locked up a long time and served every minute of his sentence and then served another eight years on top of that. so, he's ready and able to move on. >> we don't like it. because while we don't know what's going to happen or what he's going to do. >> past efforts have been launched to keep smith out of homes in both solano and

o,ntra costa county. as san francisco's water front future takes shape, consideration could be safety as in earthquake safety. the examiner reports san francisco's port commission is in the midst of an earthquake vulnerability study. the integrity of the waterfront between fisherman's wharf. how the sea wall could be impacted by strong quakes or rising sea level. the study is expected to be ready for release next year. skies were doing a little bit of shaking, especially in southern california. >> have you seen that video? we're getting a few sprinkles. are they related? >> not related to el nino because that normally doesn't kick in until late fall, early winter. but that was just an independent, slow-moving system that is still bringing in some light rain to the bay area. but luckily as it moves away from southern california, it is weakening. we are still picking up on some between 680 between san jose and

milpitas and just south of freemont. we'll watch that and see how it impacts your commute. the microclimates now. see that little bit of rain clearing out. sunshine this afternoon. highs in the low to xdmid-80s a 81 degrees in palo alto and san francisco 71 degrees and napa 78 and oakland 75 and danville today up to 86 degrees. let's check in now with mike to see if it is impacting your roads this morning. >> kari, not the weather, the issue that we have a truck that is on fire right over here. this is north 680 at the 24 interchange. a crash and a fuel leak reported as you approach and reports that that semi truck engulfed in flames going to be a spectacular site and we're waiting for the driver. updates on that. get off at olympic and take pleasant hill and should get you around the backup and quickly forming both directions the northbound side, of course, is closed. southbound we'll see the flames. now, clear 24 over towards the tunnel. over here the upper east shore freeway and worried about a

crash there and blocking at least one lane and vehicles still in lane slowing from san pablo and the merge and clearing by the time you get to golden gate field. a lot of ofoi activity for this quadrant and the one slow lane blocked and slowing off the grade and mild there for the rest of the tri-valley. south bay no problems. live look shows you san jose with an easy build on this friday. back to you. >> mike, thank you very much. coming up next, a heads up if you use uber. the reason it could be to catch a ride this weekend.

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.

california inmates fighting wildfires. a fall eoccuollow up now to controversy of inmates fighting fires. many of california's 4,000 or so inmate firefighters have previous convictions for violent crimes. in the past, corrections officials said that only nonviolent prisoners were being used. despite all the backlash the state's correction's chief is defending the status quo. he says inmates are doing a great job and now is not the time to be politicizing this issue. he is considering a campaign to ease fears about public safety risks. also to go on strike or not. that's what many californians faculty associations many efforts to get a 5% pay raise.

union members are going to receive a 2% hike this school year, which they say is not enough to make it sustainable. rallies are expected to take place on monday throughout many tof the 23 csu campuses, including right here in the bay area. that vote will run through the end of october. so, bay area uber customers may have to resort to waiting around for taxies this weekend. then, again, maybe not. it all depends on whether nationwide calls for a strike. some uber drivers happy with fare rates and working conditions are organizing a weekend strike via facebook calling on their fellow uber drivers ever where to turn off the app through sunday. so far no real comments from any bay area drivers about whether that strike might actually be in the cars. new this morning, uber is getting the legal green light across the pond. britain's high court ruled that the uberapp is legal for

londoners to use and that decision is a blow to london's signature black cap drivers that argue that uber violated the strict regulators. they have come under fire in several european nations including france, italy and spain. recently a lot of target shoppers had to cover otheir kids' ears. a san jose target store apologizing after pornography blasted through its intercom system. this happened on wednesday at the westgate shopping center. the x-rated sound track played for 15 minutes. shoppers, especially the kids were horrified. >> hurting a lady. i was like, it's okay. it's just pretend. >> we're all standing there together listening to this horrible audio like covering our kids' ears. >> target says it's investigating right now. if you believe this, a similar incident happened at a target store there back in july.ñr

that's more new age than we were expecting. >> they're just wrestling. right? >> all right, let's move on . >> the weekend. we're very happy for that. little bit of rain in the area. >> little bit of rain and even great to see the light sprinkles move in through the bay area. we had earlier this week. as we take a live look out the window now across the bay bridge, we are seeing a nice, cloudy morn oiing and we may ha some areas of mist. might have to turn on your windshield wipers as you head to work this morning and as we take a closer look at some of the showers moving through the bay area right now, it's mainly been very hit or miss. so, not all of us seeing the rain. kind of the case we had yesterday as we continue to track those showers moving in. we could see more of that as we go into the next couple of hours. but, as we go through the day, most of this clearing up. our temperatures are very warm to start out, especially in

livermore at 67 degrees and our models pick up on a chance of more, spotty, light rain going through the morning. here we are at 7:30. we are still tracking some of those showers passing by. and there could be more developing as that area of low pressure over southern california slowly spins moving a lot slower than expected, but, still, we welcomed a little bit of rain we have been getting and also have another chance heading into tomorrow, especially for the north bay. highs today, held down because of the clouds early in the morning. and then sunshine this afternoon. ly 70s and 80s and some spots will still be heating up today with higher humidity. in antioch a high of 89 degrees and 84 in livermore today and our next chance of rain, once again, comes in ahead of this cold front expected to pass by tomorrow morning. the showers mainly for the north bay, not expecting at all across the bay area, but we will feel the winds picking up going throughout the day. we may have some high wind gusts, especially late saturday evening. if you're heading out to the half moon bay pumpkin festival,

it's tomorrow and sunday. it will be in the mid-60s. bundle up. we'll be breezy and cool and else where across the bay area this weekend, mostly 70s and low 80s. sunday, the best day to get outside. the winds calm down and temperatures stay comfortable with a lot of afternoon sun. let's check in now with mike track a problem in the east bay. >> yeah, kari, the faces on the pumpkins you showed probably see the faces for drivers over in the east bay. we had this, the backup at the bay bridge. look, more problems in that area of the bay. we'll show you the map and a very slow drive where there was a crash in lanes. still waiting to get the all clear for the lanes and you see it's jammed up approaching the merge. once you pass golden gate fields, you're fine. walnut creek interchange just as we're picking up the volume for south 680, we have a truck on fire on the northbound side. southbound side can see all the activity. it sounds like all your northbound lanes are blocked because of that fire the truck. the southbound commute sees that. folks are bailing off, i hope,

at olympic and getting over to pleasant hill road.xd that's a good aungoption, but i you're coming southbound in that commute, slow drive for the time being. a very slow one. we're looking at the slower drive for the dublin interchange although the grade itself looks a little lighter after the crash cleared there and slowing through hayward typical. the rest of your bay, look at that. the south bay, no real problems. the earlier crash west çó580 an cleared to the shoeld oer. again, the big issue is walnut creek and there is a big old truck fire. we have our chopper heading out there. back to you. >> we'll being closely, thank you, mike. this is certainly san jose shark fans do not want to see. that's the team's alternate captain down on the ice. i yesterday in new jersey during a practice drill. had to be helped off and he reportedly left the prudepprude center on crunches. we should learn more about the

severity of the injury today before the sharks and devils square off this afternoon. stanford improving to 5-1 on the year. that lone loss to the northwesterncats, but they did have a victory over the ucla bruins last night. take a look at this. possibly the play of the year. look at that catch. he pins the ball. that's francis pinning the ball against the defenders' back as he holds on for the touchdown by whatever means necessary. get the play done. stanford rolls over the bruins, 56-35. >> that is the tightest. a video game controller, a 3d printer. coming up, a group of college students say they hope to forever change medical care using just those three things. spencer stone -- the hero from

sa on the mend this morning, spencer stone, the hero from sacramento is getting better. he was released from uc davis medical center yesterday. stone recover oing after someone stabbed him during a fight outside of a mid-town sacramento bar last week. that is the surveillance video of the fight and police are still looking for the people involved. as you may remember, stone became an international and american hero over the summer after he and two childhood friends helped stop a terror attack in progress on añi paris-bound train. using technology to make prosthetic limbs more affordable. that's what a team of students at the university of washington is trying to do. they are using desktop ñi computers,ñi video game controlr

and 3d printer to reinvent the technology to allow amputees to gainñr some mobility. build that prosthetic hand and then manipulated the motion by sending signals throughçó the computer. all their materials came from amazon forly less than 500 bucks. robotic arms typically costçó aboutñr 30 grand. >> the ideañi is that we releas these designs to anybody that canñi download them. and they would be able to make it themselves. >> an even better version is still possible. i think i even saw a lego in there. >> giving it out for free, which is the best part of that story. coming up next, mother nature turning dangerous and destructive in southern california as heavy rains and hail trigger massive mudslides. the reason some fear this is just a taste of what is to come. plus a historic statue beheaded. the latest act of vandalism believed to be linked to the.

good morning. thanks for joining us, i'm kris sanchez in for laura garcia-cannon. >> i'm sam brock. we track the weather and the roads. mike inouye watching a major incident and meteorologist kari hall and a slight at a microforecast. >> rain drops on the windshield as you head out for work this morning. tracking spotty, light rain.

not all across the bay area, but a chance that you may run into some of that as you head out. and our temperatures are now in the lower 60s and heading into the 70s and 80s today. cooler than we've seen to start out the week with some breezy winds and the rain we're seeing this morning will be clearing by this afternoon. i'll update you on that and a look at the weekend forecast coming up. let's check in now with mike see what's going on on walnut creek. >> right behind me your our chopper just arrived. this is 680 and both directions are jammed and looks like this might have been a semi involved. clearly not as dramatic as we thought. there it goes a little farther north and a number of crashes in the backup north 680 approaching 24 and clearly two vehicles and a lot of debris involved here. both directions are jammed up. this is just south of the 24 interchange at the walnut creek junction there and we're looking at a massive backup. let's show you the map. we don't see any flames in the live shot. reports of brush fire as a result of othat truck fire, as

well. the southbound side has some crashes and both are just jammed through the area. the northbound side, actually both sides are stopped right now. olympic over to pleasant hill might get you out of some of that backup and try to find an alternate route and not a good option for a lot of people another crash has you jammed up out of san pablo and down towards richmond but the rest of your approach to the bay bridge little light for this friday. end with your maps. want to show you the rest of the bay. slowing across the san mateo bridge and those are not surprises. 24 and 68 or 680 and 24. back to you. now, to developing situation in southern california where emergency crews are scrambling taget roadways cleared after heavy rains triggered massive mudslides. you see just a river of water. that mud trapped cars, suvs, big rigs and crews spent much of the night trying toñi get people wh were stranded out. right now part of remain shut

down this morning and could stay that way for quite some time. "today" show miguel almaguer in the hardest hit area and looking at videos of basically rivers of mud. where is it where you are? >> while the rain is gone, but the muddly isn't. take a look at these piles of mud. we're up on a berm here. roughly five, six-feet high in some area. all of this mud was just pouring down streets in this area. it was an intense storm. if was really a simple threat. pounding rain and hammering hail and that all led to flash flooding and mudslides. as you mentioned i-5 a major thoroughfare connecting l.a. and the bay area was shut down for several hours. matter of fact, it remains shut down today because rivers of mud were just flowing right over the interstate. today we're told there are no serious injuries as of right now, but we know search teams and rescue teams were in this area. they are going door-to-door making welfare checks. really a dangerous situation for

several hour, guys, more bad news later on today. we're expecting more rain here in this exact same area this afternoon. >> miguel, are they saying at this point it looks like more of the mudslides could slide farther? >> yeah, certainly looks that way. major wildfire a couple years ago. as you know, just like in the bay area, we have the areas that are burned out by wildfire and no vegetation. and the ground become a cement and doesn't absorb into the water and runs right down hill and that's what we're dealing with here in this area. hillsides are parched and hard and no place for this water to go. so, we could see very similar and dangerous situations later on today, guys. >> hopefully those communities are preparing appropriately. thank you very much, gel, for that report. you can watch miguel's whole reporting coming up on "today" show at 7:00 this morn oing. we'll also have another update

from our own bob redell coming up very soon. for the latest any time, you don't need to wait. just download our nbc bay area app. happening today, the 18-year-old man accused of sexually assaulting an 8-year-old girl at a south bay charter school is expected in court today. police arrested jonathan c, ho back in september at spark charter school in sunnyvale. that's where cho worked as a lunchtime monitor and teacher's assistant after school. he was arraigned on felony charges connected to that alleged assault. but police are still surging anyone else who might have been victimized to come forward. a follow up now. the buzz on campus is there too much protection for tenured professors. this after uc berkeley did not fire a tenured professor accused of sexual harassment. cal investigation found that astronomer marcie groped female students from 2001 to 2010.

cal's chancellor said they were not able to fire him because of a statute of limitation. he resigned this week amidst public pressure. investigate how complaints against tenured faculty are being handled. a terrifying event leads an east bay family shaken and their neighbors stunned. a hercules family including two young children were ambushed at gun point and locked in the bathroom of their home while the suspect took off with some of otheir valuables and perhaps even worse, threatened the mother that they would shoot the children. happened on cinnabar way. more on the suspect that police are looking for and, damian, these kids are around the same age as our own children. i can only imagine what that mother was feeling. >> absolutely. the police are looking for two suspects and potential a third suspect, but no doubt that family was rattled here a couple ofs ago in the town of hercules. this incident happened here on wednesday. this morning, police are still

looking for two heavily armed men. detectives say the men forced their way into a in the 200 block of cinnibar way on wednesday night. t the mother parked the car in the driveway with her two children and her mother. ly after the suspects arrived and pulled gun on the family, they had a semiautomatic handgun and described as a black, military-style rifle. police say the suspect said they would shoot the children ages 9 and 10 unless their mother told them where the safe was located. the suspects locked the entire family in the room shortly after emptying the safe. they also disabled the victim's cell phones before police arrived a half hour later. >> kind of scary because this is hercules, nice neighborhood that we have here. >> police, the suspects are described as an asian man and african-american man. both in their 20s and both were

wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and both had a dark colored bandanna or a ski mask and there might be potentially a third suspect a get away driver waiting for the suspects. we're live in hercules, i'm damian trujillo. >> hopefully they'll catch them soon. new this morning for a third time, vandals in monterey county targeting newly canonized. look at the statue beheaded and vandals broke off the head of ñr junipero is serra. he was responsible for the mistreatment and deaths of some native americans. so many people have done everything they could to conserve water and the drought, while you're going to extra lengths to do that, others are

not being quite so kaunconsnshs. oakland ark's baseball executive billye is third on the east bay mud list of water wasters. number one is retired chevron oil exec george kirkland and they both live in danville. using just short of 6,000 gallons of water every single day. as for kirkland, try more than 12,000 gallons a day for roughly 48 times the district average. those numbers are not sitting well with the people who are going out of their way to conserve. >> i make sure we save the dishes until dinnertime and my daughters, they are not allowed to have showers every night. >> the beane told the local newspaper that he tried to cut back this summer. he just has too much landscaping to contend with. kirkland told nbc bay area that he had a leak in a water line that flows to his vineyard, which may have contributed to his high number. he says he's working to get it

fixed right now. >> so, 6,000 gallons a çóday, 12,000 gallons a day. the average family 280 gallons a day for an average family. >> exactly. 6:39. there is some water coming down. we've seen a lot in southern california. even a little bit in the bay area, too, kari. >> the same system bringing weakening showers into the bay area. we're still picking up on some light rain along 680 and then movingñr over towards san jose,s well, closer to 101. as you drive to work or school this morning, a few raindrops on the windshield and then we'll see this clearing out as we go into the afternoon. a high of 82 degree expected and low 70s in san francisco and 7 in the north bay and napa and oakland 75 degrees. livermore today a high of 84 degrees. temperatures will be coming down even more heading into the weekend and yet another cold front moves in. may bring in a little bit more rain. i'll talk about that coming up

in less than ten minutes. let's check in now with mike tracking a major problem around walnut creek. >> this better news, i guess, is that this jackknife truck and then theñr car, the truck fire that was there. the fire itself is mostly out. chopper showing you now both sides are jammed up. the southbound side, this is the southbound side with a number of crash there's as they approach the scene coming off of 24 and heading down towards about main street or broadway. look at that one, two, three, four separate and a number of issues. one lane gets by here. you can see northbound where all traffic is stopped. look at your map. we're talking about a jackknifed rig right here just north of broadway. southbound side was distracted by all this activity and now a big nightmare for both directions. not really agood alternate for you. that is the huge issue right now. chopper showed you that. i'm thinking that cleanup will take at least an hour because a fuel spill there and they involve some brush fires, as

well, in the area. a lighter flow overall and keeping things from getting even worse there. backup over there for the upper east shore freeway because the crash at west 80 also slows things down. the rest of of your bay moves very smoothly. moving towards the bay bridge toll plaza. as we get a look at the rest of the bay, san mateo bridge slows. back to you. >> thank you, mike. well, a young girl's talents help police put a suspect behind bars. the unusual clue that she helped police to solve their case. the end of an era, two major airlines finally become one with a historic send off from san francisco. but it might not be smooth sailing for passengers. we'll explain.

we begin with breakingñr ne right here. our view from the chopper over walnut creek. look at that. northbound 680 right over main street where you see all that surface street traffic. northbound completely stopped. number of crashes onner side and as chopper shows you, this big rig right here and that was the one on fire starting the whole mess. there is a fuel leak, a cleanup and a big backup and we'll show you this as well as your friday commute. we're tracking that. >> thank you, mike. decision 2016. a possible boycott in the works and ben carson saying that they

will skip the next republican debate, if the rules don't change. "today in the bay" tracie potts has more on what the candidates are demanding and a look at who is really raking in the money. >> that's a promise! >> reporter: hillaryçó clinton raised $30 million last quarter. more than any other candidate. and our new nbc news online poll conducted by survey monkey just out this morning found she won tuesday's debate and now leads the field by double digits own over bernie sanders. sanders was second last quarter in fund-raisinfund-raising. in our poll, carson gaining on donald trump's lead up 9% from last month. team donald trump sent a letter to cnbc threatening to boycott the next debate if it's longer than two hours and doesn't allow opening and closing statements. else where on the campaign trail, critics, jeb bush on the nfl and ray rice. >> i think they mishandled there. >> carly fiorina on president

obama's decision to leave more troops in afghanistan. >> i certainly support his recognition of reality. >> reporter: and joe biden. >> have you made your decision yet? >> i can't hear you. >> reporter: still mum on whether he's running for president. >> he can hear. well yahoo! mail app getting rid of passwords, believe it or not. what the new app will look like. it has an option called account key. instead of typing a password to access e-mail send a notification to your phone to sign in. the new feature will be more secure, but you can't choose an old-fashioned password option. options of playing fantasy sports starting to dwindle a little bit' that's how it looks for pay to play fantasy sport players in nevada. sites including fan duel and draft kings should be considered

gambling. as such, they're being ordered to cease operations in nevada until they have proper gambling licenses. recent controversies have praurch prompted new calls. at sfo tonight, the end of an era when the last usairways flight closes a 76-year journey. the first ever flight, a three-leg trip from philadelphia to san francisco. tomorrow american airlines officially absorbs usairways. so, tonight, one last usairs plane will take off from san francisco to complete the cycle flying back to philly. "today" show gabe gutierrez explains why passengers might want to allow a little extra time when checking in. >> good morning. it is the end of an era. this morning usairways is preparing for its final flight. more than two years after announcing plans to merge with american airlines tomorrow. the two carriers plan to integrate their reservation

system. american says it's been preparing for this moment, running millions of mock reservations and testing thousands of their computers and kiosks. but airline mergers can be turbulent. back in 2010 united and continental ran into problems when their reservation system failed. coming up on "today" the very latest on whether any glitches are expected this time around and what american says you should do if you plan on traveling this weekend. >> that was gabe gutierrez reporting there. now to a local story, a young girl's stick figure drawing played a critical role in helping police nab a burglar. >> this is 11-year-old of connecticut. she drew the sketch after police came to her door a few months agoe. they asked her if she saw anything suspicious. she gave them her best clue, which earned her a standing ovation from the stratford police department. >> i drew a picture of him and it wasn't like the best picture,

it was just like i had a hat after i thought about it in the morning, oh, probably just crumple it out and throw it out. >> take that sketch and match it up with the suspect, it was remarkable. >> this is how it matches up. not bad, right? officer os were able to arrest that man, inconfessed to ten break ins. they were also able to recover some of the items that had stolen. career day at school, your teachers are there. what do you want to be when you grow up? a sketch artist. >> draw a suspect. >> nothing suspect about what is going on here. the weekend has arrived. we have rain in the forecast and little bit of everything. >> you know as you head out the door this morning, you may step out and be like, oh, it's raining. we have a little bit of that going on as we take a look now at san jose. you see those low clouds and every now and then they spit out a few rain droplets and not

expecting anything heavy. off and on throughout the morning and all clears out by this afternoon. a look at the radar. you can see where we had those splotches of green very hit or miss. the rain has been light and tracking that as we go into the next couple of hours. rain in the forecast today. a little bit more expected tomorrow. but as you feel those temperatures the low 60s, we also have a lot of cloudy skies and higher humidity. the futurecast still shows the chance of rain as we go through the morn oing, but once again very spotty. a breezy day, too, as we expect a cold front to approach from the west. as it will move in, it will cause the to increase, especially tomorrow afternoon. the rain kind of fizzles out as that front moves in, but we may still see some of that tracking into the north bay. all of us feeling the breezy winds and keep in mind that we may have some light rain. again, tomorrow, as our temperatures start to drop slightly as we go into tomorrow night. temperatures will be in the 70ç

and low 80s and all clears out and we dry out on sunday and highs in the 70s and low 80 os in the tri-valley. a high of 82 degrees on sunday and san francisco reaching 69 degrees. let's check in now with mike, checking a lot of problems for the amucommute. >> ochopper over 680. the northbound side completesly st stopped the southbound side. and you can see main street jammed up in the area. let me show you some video chopper took just a few minutes ago. the fire there. that's what started it all. looked like a gravel truck here over on the side of the road. this brush nearby and that truck was on fire. that caught the brush on fire. folks were seeing that and distracted, i would presume. a number of crashes on northbound and southbound side. a couple smashed up vehicles and a number of tow trucks on the scene. let's get you out to the maps and show you the extent. coming off of 680 and pleasant hill and all the way down

through the area. tough to find a really good aul aulterinate and all conjugested through the area. countercommute and likely getting over to pleasant hill if that's where they need to go. earlier crashes off the highway. makes your highway 4 alternate throughçó the area and then you you're okay. talking about very slow and very clear for the bay bridge toll plaza where the metering lights are on. all of your activity over here and anywhere south of the san mateo bridge is clear, guys. back to you. >> thank you very much, mike. well, things are flowing smoothly a stark contrast on the golden gate bridge this morning. we're looking live at our picture this morning. take a look at our picture from last night. the evening commute was a mess, brought to a complete standstill

after a toyota camry caught fire on the span around 5:30. everyone inside that car did make it out safely, but northbound lanes were shut down for about 45 minutes as crews put out the flames and moved the car. no word yet on the cause of the fire. coming up next, home invasion suspects threatening to shoot two children. what a bay area family was forced to do while armed suspects ransacked an east bay home. developments: =sam/2shot= out

of southern california - where a massive mudslid following the latest developments out of southern california where a massive mudslide has shut down part of interstate 5. >> "today in the bay" bob redell following this story. cars, suvs, big rigs just stuck in feet of mud. >> one driver, kris and sam, compared to a freight train as a river of dirt and small boulders ripped down the grapevine. the grade if you're not familiar must travel i-5. the mud was five feet deep in parts of northbound i-5. cars were lifted up and spun around like it was nothing according to one driver. fortunately, no one was hurt and ca la cal trans has such removed the stuck vehicle. the geologist will have to check the stability of the grade to make sure it's safe. at the time of reopening to 2:00 this afternoon. the latest number from chp and

cal tran. kris, sam? >> thank you very much. happening right now, a sinkhole in union city is growing in its problems. it's taking a look at how big it is right now. you see the pipeline that they're going to use to replace a broken one. it started as a six by eight-foot sinkhole on whole and it's ten feet deep this morning digging to make sure that there isn't more damage to the broken water main below. now that busy road in union city will be closed until tuesday of next week. all of it happening at the intersection of alvarado boulevard and new haven street right near alvarado middle school. parents being advised to drop the kids often the back side of campus and the kiy cut a hole i the fence. a words of a robber at an east bay house ambushed a family

and now hercules police on the hunt for the suspects. >> damian trujillo on the search for the violent suspects, damian. >> police are looking for two suspects and potentially a third. but the incident certainly rattled the family here in hercules. it happened on wednesday evening. police are still looking for the twooheavily armed men. on wednesday night. the 47-year-old mother parked her car in the driveway with her two children and her elderly mother. shortly after, police say the spects arrived and pulled guns on the family. they had semiautomatic handgun and described asñr black himili rifle. they would shoot the children unless their mother told them where the safe was located. the suspects locked the entire family in a room shortly after emptying that safe. we're live in hercules, i'm damian trujillo. >> very scary scene there.

>> we saw the really bad flooding down in southern california, which affects the commute, but we have a couple sprinkles here. >> light rain moving across parts of the bay area this morning. so, watch out for that. temperatures in the low 60s and highs today in the 70s and low 80s. after all of that clears out, another chance of rain heading into the weekend. >> mike has been tracking a mess this morning up the 680 interchange. >> this was fire. we are looking out for our chopper over 680. a look at this, the headlights you see there. that's northbound, i'm sorry, southbound. that traffic is down to one lane there and all these folks spilling off theway. northbound that is where you see that rig and caught brush on fire andxd caused a number of crashes in the backup and all lanes northbound a crash closed and folks are getting off the freeway and shut it down. they have to loop back to the exit just behind them. now a look to the san mateo bridge because that's not the only slow drive and building for the south bay, as well. starting to show slowing speeds

even on oththis friday. >> not a get away friday. not just yet. we'll be back with you at 7:25 with some live local news. good morning. breaking news. flash flooding triggers massive mudslides in southern california. a major interstate shut down. drivers stranded for hours. children rescued from the trapped school bus and concerned officials are asking is this just the beginning? the bump. our new poll shows hillary clinton pulling ahead of bernie sanders after her performance at this week's democratic debate while on the republican side ben carson surges even closer to front-runner donald trump as new signs emerge that vice president joe biden may be about to throw ha