with bay area ties. searchers find the body of a pilot and his plane in castro tragedy in the bay area once again with bay area ties, searchers find the body of a pilot and his plane in castro valley. now this morning, the recovery begins. mourning the loss of six american troops in afghanistan, one of those killed, a woman from the bay area who happens to be one of the most groundbreaking officers in military history. piling into cars, planes and trains, americans are set to break records this season. the reasons driving, the end denise ilitch of-the-year rush. "today in the bay" starts right now. >> i'm kira clapper in for laura garcia-cannon. >> i'm sam brock. we're driving that car right

through the middle of the week. >> kari hall has the micro climate forecast for us. looking a lot better than it was yesterday. >> yes, kira and sam, today is the day to travel whether you're catching the flight or getting on the road because our weather has taken a break. we do have dry conditions, and we'll have much different weather headed into tomorrow morning. now as you wake up and step out the door, it's 41 degrees in the north bay while 50 in the tri-valley peninsula and the south bay. looking at highs today in the mid 50s. clear and sunny, but a little cooler than where we should be for this time of year. i'll have more in the micro climate forecast. let's see what's happening in the roadways with mike? >> we start in san jose. it has the one thing i can report as far as incidents. we can also report clear, easy drive around the roadways. we'll look to the map. talking 101 north of 680 at the mckeon ramp. this will be a crash on the

right-hand shoulder. a decision straks for folks getting onto the freeway. all an easy drive toward the bay bridge. no metering lights. we'll track the rest of your commute. right now, focus on this, warriors play tonight. a developing story. recovery of the body and wreckage of a plane that crashed in the east bay foothills begins this morning. it's going to be a difficult job. the wreckage is in the trees and brush right on the border of castro valley. it was a single engine plane that crashed around 11:30. the body is believed to be the owner of a sacramento county businessman. you'll remember the weather was horrible about this time yesterday. that's all investigators have to go on at this point. >> very changeable. it's a critical factor. >> this marks the second crash

of a small plane in almost as many days. a gilroy family died earlier this week outside of bakersfield. the causes of both of those plane crashes under investigation. also new details on a nightclub shooting we first brought you monday morning. detectives have two people in custody, that shooting wounded four people in a parking lot at club call en they. gunfire broke out about 2:00 a.m. investigators won't release any information about the suspects or what happened until later in the day. they say the injuries to all four victims are non-li non-life-threateni non-life-threatening. six americans killed in a suicide attack in afghanistan. now we're learning a bay area woman is among the dead. air force major adrianna leaves behind her wife and young son in san rafael. fellow military members are

remembering her as a fighter. she was the first openly gay american female officer to be killed in the line of duty. she spent years fighting the repeal of don't ask don't tell. many call her the face of equality both in the military and in the dachkers of war. >> her death in some ways signifies that women and lesbians and gays are truly equal and that we do have the same risk out there. in a statement her widow heather lamb says adrianna was the light of their lives calling her a hero, never more so than now. very sad. 4:34. now to the aftermath left behind from this week's wet, windy weather. watch the right side of your screen. a huge fiek cass tree comes down in alameda just seconds after a car passes by. in petaluma, more trees came crashing down this time at the

horse park in petaluma. one horse died after two trees hit a stable. these are a few of the incidents we saw yesterday as we enter the winter season. gearing up for record holiday travel as we take a look at san francisco international airport, still windy out there. experts say this will be the first time ever when the number of travelers will top 100 million across the country. that's nearly one of every three u.s. citizens taking the the air, road or rail. gas is at a seven-year low. 91 million people estimated to be driving. also warmer-than-normal weather back east is making it easier to get on the ground. this could be the busiest holiday season ever which actually makes me thankful i'm sitting right here working. >> you can see a positive, too, not being off on christmas. >> absolutely. >> we saw the camera a few seconds ago from san bruno, but conditions much calmer than they

were yesterday at this time. >> yes, a nice clear start to the day as we take a live look at san jose. chilly temperatures as you step out. we are gearing up for another weather system that will be moving in by late tonight into the day tomorrow. right now it's just causing some light, spotty showers. this will also usher in much cooler temperatures as we start out with a fairly mild start. it's 50 degrees in oakland, san carlos and san jose as well as concord. san francisco at 49 degrees and taking it hour by hour in livermore, today we'll see the highs in the mid 50s, but it will be cool as we head into tonight and into the next few days. i'll show you what to expect heading into christmas. that's coming up. let's see what's happening on the roads. any change yet, mike? >> up and down as far as the camera goes. breezy conditions. more than breezy. the bay bridge and the san mateo bridge, let's look at the maps. you can't make out the lights because the camera was moving so

much. look at the easy drive. drier roads, clear view of the roadways. looking north of the san mateo bridge where that high-rise, watch for gusty winds like we saw yesterday. the live look for dublin, clear, smooth-flowing roadway, the off-ramp here. it's dry now. >> up next, finally finding justice. a grieving widow gets some answers after her husband died at a postal facility here in the bay area. we investigate next. got a tip for nbc bay area's investigative unit? call 1-888-996-tips or e-mail theunit@nbcbayarea.com. nbc bay area, we investigate. action prompted by an

investigative unit report. ==sam/2shot== the federal government now granting tens of thousands of dollars in death benefits to a bay action prompted by an investigative unit report. the federal government is granting tens of thousands in death benefits to a bay area widow hours after our investigation aired. >> vicky nguyen has an update. >> good morning, guys. it is happy news in the last chapter of what has been a very sad story for lar any and her family. her husband sam worked for the u.s. postal service for 28 years. in august of 2014 he suffered severe head trauma during his shift at this postal facility in west oakland. no one called 911 for at least 20 minutes. he later died.

marney fought to get the rules changed but later won. the office of worker's compensation says it was unclear how sam got hurt because there were no witnesses. last week we aired a story about the government's decision. the next morning, the office reopened and reviewed her claim and called marney's attorney to say her benefits request was approved. they e-mailed us to say when the program became aware her claim was denied, the director ordered a review of the evidence. her attorney calls it a christmas miracle saying he has never seen this type of action so quickly. you can see more of our report on nbcbayarea.com. just click on the investigations tab. >> vicky, thanks. if you have a tip for our investigative unit, give us a call at 1-888-996-tips or send us an e-mail to theunit@nbcbayarea.com. coming up next, it's going to be a very popular gift this christmas. a lot of people hoping for hover

boards, so did thieves who took what they wanted. the brazen robbery caught on camera next.

welcome back at 4:44. the gang is all here. mike and kari have less to do, i would say, today than yesterday. >> yes. it's like being on vacation today. >> regular paycheck. >> i'll be busy again tomorrow. that's when the rain returns. this next round will be a cold

rain. yesterday it was kind of a nice mild temperature along with those showers. so get ready for some chilly temperatures. kind of cool as you step out this morning, and a great way to start out the day, as we see mostly clear skies over san francisco. the next weather system is starting to get its act together as it moves onshore across northwestern california, also parts of the pacific northwest, and a closer look at it. we see a little bit more snow mixed in for those higher elevations as it approaches redding. we are looking at some of the cold air to spill down and also some winter weather advisories. there may be some bouts of snow as we go into early tomorrow. look at santa rosa. when you see those pinks and those blues, that's a wintery mix. you may see that heading into christmas eve morning and heavier rain moving into the south bay between the morning hours, and then some isolated thunder will develop as we go into the afternoon. snow levels will be dropping as

the cold air rolls in and we'll have the chance of snow on mt. hamilton heading into thursday night into early friday. we'll be watching that. winds are still breezy this morning coming in from the northwest at about 25 to close to 30 miles an hour. as we go into tonight, winds do start to calm down but pick up once again by tomorrow once that storm system arrives. so mainly clear conditions and calm winds tonight. looking at lake tahoe, if you're heading in that direction, as you go over the mountains, you'll still see the snow flurries come down. the next storm system looks to bring another foot or two to the ski resorts like kirkwood and twin bridges. it looks like about 22 inches of snow will be possible just with this next round, this next storm system that will be coming in. so clearing out just in time for christmas day. how is it looking on the roads, mike? >> looking great, kari. i want to point out the golden

gate bridge, this sign here yesterday said caution. this morning it's back to showing two lanes northbound. that typically will notify you of the configuration unless there's something more serious. back to the maps, we'll show you a smooth drive and the roadways are driving out all over the bay. maybe damp in places. the warriors play tonight. we should see an easier morning commute and an easy morning commute -- hard for me to say that. the south bay, easy flow of traffic. we showed the smidgeon both the maps. i want to show you the bridget self coming across. you might get caught with a gust or two. the high-rise may be gusty, so may the bay bridge. keep that in mind. back to you. >> for the first time you can listen to the beatles on several music streaming sites. >> welcome to spotify. for that and the rest of the news at the bell, we turn to kate rogers live at cnbc world

headquarters. >> stocks rose again on tuesday, futures higher ahead of the opening bell. look for data on personal goods, new home sales and consumer sentiment. the dow jumping to 17417, the nasdaq adding 32 points to 1501. google is reportedly working on a mess sending app. the "wall street journal" says it will tap into google's artificial intelligence know-how. it's unclear when the app would launch or what it will be called. santa has an extra gift for music lovers this year, john, paul, george and ring go. the beatles will join music services including apple pleusic and spotify on thursday. unlike artists like taylor swift who won't allow some songs on the site, the beatles will be

available to everyone. >> maybe they'll set an example. if the beatles can do it, anyone can do it. >> we can all follow along. the hot item for under the christmas tree is apparently a hot item for thieves. we have surveillance video from atv wholesale. those are three thieves, running, getting away with $1,000 in hover boards. each is worth more than $300. store employees thought they might be getting robbed when the thieves came in. >> one goes to one side, one goes to the oefrmt hover boards there, hover boards there. here comes the third one. >> when they first came in, i got scared, they all had their hands in the pocket, hoods ochblt at first i thought it was going to be a robbery. >> as you see, the surveillance caught the thieves as well as the lookouts. the store owners chased the thieves out to the suvs. >> if they get burned, no one to

blame but themselves. 4:49. just no break for those wanting local crab any time soon. the season is being further delayed. already postponed past christmas. all of this, of course, because of unsafe levels of toxins brought on by an algae bloom. state brieologists say local samples are still coming back with unsafe levels of the toxin. no word on when the local season might start. it was first set to begin at the start of november. we can still note you can get fresh crab at fisherman's wharf, but it's been flown in from washington state. >> santa might have new reindeer pulling its sleigh. google released this video of three robotic reindeer. you decide if this is odd or not. the reindeer are headless. a bizarre look into the future if robots took over the world. google has created much buzz this year by showing off its

intelligent robot. a drone falls from the sky and misses a professional skier by a few feet. it obviously got torn apart. watch as this austrian skier makes his way down the slope in italy. that was a broadcast drone that crashed in the middle of the broadcast. the skier had no idea what happened until after the race. bear with me here. we have to milk these "star wars" references as much as we can while we can. it wasn't quite "star wars" in the western skies, but definitely a hint of it came from outer space. a bright fireball that lit up social media. it happened a little after 6:00 last night. a mysterious streak lit up the skies from las vegas to sacramento and had a lot of people asking what was it? debris from a russian rocket launched back on monday that re-entered the atmosphere above arizona. it's not clear if that debris burned upon reentry or if it had touched down. >> it wasn't george lucas.

it was russia. >> for once it wasn't george lucas. >> he's proclaimed his innocence from the start but still spent nearly 30 years in prison. now a colorado man is free but not for long. we'll explain why next. why let someone else have all the fun? the sometimes haphazard,

never boring fun. the why can't it smell like this all the time fun. the learning the virtue of sharing fun. why let someone else have all the fun? that's no fun. unleash the power of dough. give it a pop.

a year ago it might have been unimaginable that we would be saying the first day without rain out of four straight days. finally, a lack of rain. it sounds foreign, kari. >> don't get used to it. we'll have more rain coming in tomorrow. as we look ahead to christmas weekend, it is going to be chilly out there. we may have some freeze warnings. i was looking at some of the computer models and it shows for parts of the south bay we could be dipping into the upper 20s, and then the highs only making it into the mid 50s. it's going to be chilly, also,

heading in to sunday. let's see what's happening on the roads now with mike. >> kari, i don't know if we can catch it. see the flashing lights getting off the bridge, eastbound 80. i'll check on that. we'll see if anything is going on. so far nothing going on but a few cars waiting to pay cash. we still don't have all the cash pay lanes open yet. easy drive here. watch the north bay, gusty winds here. the bay bridge, same suspect as yesterday. nothing major. looking at an easy drive throughout. this is san rafael southbound with the headlights. we'll check the palo alto camera as well, easy drive here as the roadways dry out all around the bay. no major problems on the freeways. back to you. >> 4:55 right now. new this morning, 28 years after being sent to prison, a colorado man is getting his first whiff of freedom, at least until there's a new trial. clarence moses el walked out of

jail yesterday on bond. yesterday a judge overturned his rape conviction after doubts arose regarding the woman's testimony. moses el has proclaimed his innocence since the beginning. he says his spirituality has kept him going in jail. >> i feel really great. i'm kind of lost for words. i feel really great. i want to thank my legal team and everybody that stood by me all these years. >> spent almost 30 years in jail. denver's district attorney is still deciding whether or not to retry moses el. just in case, prosecutors asked for a new trial date which the judge set for next may. the 9/11 memorial in hayward is complete this morning. this happens with the installation of six granite benches, each dedicated to a different veteran's group. the benches circle the memorial. each of the of risks is in

memory of the four planes. the installation ceremony begins at 9:00 at the site on d. street and mission boulevard in hayward. it turns out you can go home again. in this case just in time for christmas and one lucky and be loved duck. the duck we're talking about is juanita. that's the same the staff gave her at the bellow gardens assisted living facility. she became a bit of a pet and companion to some of the seasons. in september juanita flew the coop. the facility couldn't get the duck back because it's wildlife. the reunion with her elder friends is set for later today. and cheese and quackers are on the menu. >> did you write that? coming up, crashing into a bolder and living to tell about it. a gold country man is rich in

luck after somehow surviving the collision with the tumbling boulder. the difference between life and death in this case, granular. find out if you could get help paying for health insurance with just your age, income, zip code, and the number of people in your household. information you probably know off the top of your head.

enroll by january 31st to avoid the irs tax penalty. ♪ if you haven't checked out covered california in a while, we've got some new options that might interest you. like adult dental coverage. great news for you... and your sweet tooth. to find free, local, in-person help, visit coveredca.com piecing together what happened to the plane that crashed in the east bay foothills... kira/vo plus-- a miracle near lake tahoe. how a driver managed to narrowly escape being crushed by a miracle near lake tahoe. how a driver managed to narrowly escape being crushed by a giant boulder. >> headed out the door for your

holiday vacation? join the club. the record amount of people expected to take to the skies and roads today. "today in the bay" starts right n now. good morning on this wednesday. thanks for joining us. i'm sam brock. >> i'm kira klapper in for laura garcia-cannon. today the best day to get on the road or catch a flight. we'll have dry conditions across the bay area. temperature now 40 degrees in the north bay and 50 degrees in the peninsula and south bay. heading into the afternoon, we're looking at highs that will be in the mid 50s. i'll detail that and what to expect as the next storm system approaches, begins to bring rain to niechlt more on that in a few minutes. >> if you get motion sick, focus on me and we'll see the