flashes of fire in vallejo over night left behind the aftermath of up to ten burned cars and the burning question of how it it all started. and a trashy move executed in a restaurant trash can. what a peninsula woman found inside of a bathroom that had her calling police. plus a look at all that glean on the radar. as you look out your window at home this morning, you'll see that rain, too. what that means for your commute and your weekend plans. "today in the bay" starts right now. thanks for joining us on this friday morning, i'm kris sanchez in for laura garcia-cannon. >> i'm sam brock. you may have heard of the wind out of your window overnight and a wet and windy start right now and ends to your workweek. a live look outside at the

golden gate bridge. already seeing some raindrops this morning. more rain still to come. meteorologist kari hall tracking the forecast for us right now. looks like a soggy weekend. >> at least the start to the weekend is looking wet as we go through today and then wraps up early tomorrow. taking a look at the storm system and how large it is as we get a look at the radar and the satellite. rain moving into the bay area and it it will get pretty much scattered, stay scattered as we go through the day. we're not seeing any really heavy downpours when you see the light shades of green. that shows a light to moderate rain. as we go into the day, we're looking at highs that will be reaching into the upper 50s to lower 60s and 56 in napa, 58 in oakland and livermore up to 59 degrees. we'll talk more about that and another look at all the microclimates and help you plan the weekend, that's coming up in a few minutes. let's check in now with mike to see how the traffic is moving. >> very light traffic around the bay and very early for commuters

especially on friday, but those conditions slick roadways out there. kari showed you that. give it a second but the camera has been trembling a bit. there it it it it goes. some wind kicking up, as well. the san mateo bridge. the high rise there to foster city's approach. the high rise might get caught with a gust or two of winds and got caught with a gust as well across the bay bridge. we'll check traffic, back to you. everything is relative, though, right, as we brace for more rain on the other side of the country, some 80 million people on the east coast are gearing for a massive winter storm. airlines are just scrambling to cancel flights ahead of this record breaking nor'easter storm. american airlines have canceled all flights for today out of charlotte douglas international airport and many airlines are doing the same. so far six states are under a state of emergency. some places preparing for at least two feet of snow.

jay gray is tracking the very latest for us as the storm rolls through. we'll have more from jay coming up at 5:30. now, only on nbc bay area, a trip to the restroom turned into a nightmare and ended a high tech peeping tom in jail. charges against the peninsula man who placed his cell phone in a garbage can to secretly record people. she made the discovery after noticing a hole and a lens in the garbage can. this happened inside the unisex restroom back in december. the phone belonged to an employee who was fired and then arrested. and there is a possibility that kids, children may have been recorded, too. >> children were filmed and he's in position of child pornography, that's a felony. that's something that can lead to being placed on a sexual offender's list. this person should be on that

list. >> expected to be arraigned on misdemeanor charges next week. a break in the case. police arrested two men for a shooting ooutside of bay fair center last week. they also found several guns during that arrest. police say a group of men walking in a parking lot and another person in a car shot at each other. nobody was actually hurt. officers say they worked very closely with oakland police to try to track down those suspects. fireball in the sky as multiple cars go up in flames in vallejo last night. all happening at a tow yard on broadway avenue. up to ten cars burn before the fire was under control. there was a person in the tow yard covered in oil, but, fortunately, not hurt. no word on the cause of that fire this morning. firefighters probably could have used a little help from mother nature last night, but they're going to get it in spades today here, kari. you're tracking rain this morning. >> we will see that off and on throughout the day and fairly light at times and may get a

couple heavier downpours this afternoon. but as we start out, we do have wet roads all across the bay area. and just make sure you have the umbrella somewhere close by. with those showers there will also be some breaks and some peeks of sunshine. as we take a look at this storm system now, a lot more moisture to work in from off shore and as we go into the next, i'll say, 24 hours. we still will have some rain in the forecast. and the rain continues to move off to the east with some of those downpours mainly in the east bay and parts of the peninsula and expect more of that, once again, as we go into this evening. i'll detail that and a look at how much rain to expect and we'll take a look ahead to the weekend coming up in less than ten minutes. let's check in now with mike to see how the roads are moving. >> show folks the roadway here across the golden gate bridge. the volume of traffic very light that is the case for much of friday's commute. early on the lower speeds necessary because the slick roadways, slick conditions demanded. look out to the roadways on the

maps highlights and patches and wetter roads and an earlier crash west 580 and it it looked like the activity is off to the shoulder and no slowing shows up there. down here in redwood city, southbound 101 at broadway. another single car crash there. oftentimes those are spinouts. we expect to see those. the green highlighting portions of 280 which will have slicker conditions right now. back to you. >> thank you very much, mike. coming up next, tasers, training and lots of talk. what is on the table as san francisco police and citizens talk about when it is ookay to use force. and we now know what didn't cause this deadly bus crash. find out whether the driver is off the hook. it is easy taget connected to the weather outside by going inside the nbc bay area app on your smartphone. touch the radaron the weather page. there you can zero in on your own neighborhood to see if it is raining. gives you right what you need to know right when you need to know

it. i'm vicki nguyen and that's how to stay informed. got a tip for nbc's bay area investigative unit? call 1-888-996-tips or e-mail theunit@nbcbayarea.com. nbc bay area, we investigate. searching for solutions and

asking for suggestions. sa 4:39 right now. searching for solutions and asking for suggestions. san francisco police are reaching out to their community as the city tries to change its

use of force policy. the police commission held the first of three public meetings last night. the police department has been under heavy scrutiny since the deadly shooting caught on video of mario woods that happened last month. last night some community members said they oppose the use of tazer and want more training for officer os instead. the board of supervisors also discussed alternatives to deadly force. mechanical failure has now been ruled out in that tragic greyhound bus incident in san jose earlier in the week. now the investigation turns to where the passengers were sitting. combing through the wreckage of the bus to figure out what happened. investigators are looking into driver fatigue or even if the weather might have played a factor here. the bus driver admitted he was tired that time of the crash. two people died, eight others injured when that bus flipped over on highway 101 northbound in san jose on tuesday. grounded for good and formally charged. a former alaska airlines captain

is accused of operating a plane while drunk. david harns was arraigned in federal court earlier this week. the 60-year-old flew from portland, oregon, to oronge county while he was inebriated. he is free on bail and will be back in court next month. starting this week, people in the east bay can now text 911. the richmond police department is now taking the lead in northern california to update the way people reach out for help and specifically for emergency help. starting this week, if you're in richmond, el cerito and san pablo you can text 911 dispatchers. that could be life saving especially if you're in a situation where you're trying to hide from someone or simply can't talk. the program is already in use in southern california. >> i think it's a great idea. well, coming up, an unfair

fight. bar owners say they have been shaken down for thousands of in a moneymaking scheme involving pay per view boxing. the reason small businesses say they are being punished in court.

weather and traffic this morning. 4:45. it's never too early to start tracking that rain, right? because it's not starting just here but moving throughout the course of the darx kari. >> off and on all day.

when we do have rain for a long period of time, it does give it a little bit of time to soak into the ground. that is good news. gusty winds that may create some coastal flooding conditions. we'll talk about that in a second as we take a live look at san jose. camera kind of shaking around. we had wind gusts all throughout the night and it looks like that continues. our king tides forecast brings in the concern of coastal flooding in low-lying roadways where you may have the water coming over the road. now high tide will be at 9:46 this morning and we will see waves at 6 1/2 feet. the same thing tomorrow morning right at 10:30. the coastal flood advisory continues. our waves anywhere from 12 to 16 feet and period swells of 15 to 17 seconds. so, we run the risk of some rip currents and some breaker waves. you never want to turn your water, turn your back to the water as we will see those high waves coming up. our winds are rushing in from the south at about 30 miles an

hour. even higher along the coast. and we don't see those winds really calming down until about tomorrow. so, we still keep the gusty winds all throughout the day. and, of course, we have a soak to ground so that raises the concern of some of those trees may be toppling over. the the rain is not all that impressi impressive. we've seen scattered light showers throughout the morning. i think this will continue through the day. so today's rain with this area of low pressure continues to stream that moisture in from the pacific. we see the off and on showers. looking that timeline, by 9:00 this morning, it's hit or miss all across the bay area. and then as we go into tonight, we may have some rounds of heavier downpours and then by tomorrow it's slowly starts to taper off. with that rain lasting for a while, we do have the potential of anywhere from 0.5 maybe closer to 1 inch in spots like san jose and palo alto. looking athead the weekend, highs in the low 60s today and upper 50s for the east bay,

tri-valley and north bay. as we dry out on sunday, still feeling nice and comfortable. let's check in with mike now to see how the roads are moving. >> kari was talking about the rain not so impressive and don't take that personally. that's a professional assessment. we do see the wet roadways and that is a factor. slicker conditions. the wind will be an yiissue, as well. the richmond san rafael bridge not so well traveled right now. the backup for the cash lanes and a couple folks waiting for the tickers to take their money and a wind advisory for the san mateo bridge and as we look towards dublin they both have advisories from the chp right now because they got caught with a gust or two. oover here drier conditions for 580 and an easy drive out of the altamont. not a lot of slowing right now, but just as the conditions drive along your drive, just change your driving, as well. >> thank you very much, mike. reports out this morning, google shelling out some big bucks to get its search bar on

the iphone. >> for the rest of your news before the bell, we turn to landon dowdy live at cnbc world headquarters. happy friday, landon. >> sam and kris, happy friday to you. wall street is looking to end the week with two straight positive days. futures are higher and stocks rebounding on thursday while closing off the highs of the session due to a big bounce in oil prices thanks to cold weather and the u.s. on speculation that officials there may announce more economic stimulus measures. look for data on existing home sales. the dow rising 118 points to 15883. the nasdaq up a fraction to 4472. watch shares of starbucks today. reporting better than expected earnings on holiday gift cards and merchandise. outside of the u.s., especially in china and the company's profit forecast is disappointing wall street analysts. shares dropped more than 4% in after-hours trading. google is forking over a lot

of cash just to keep its search bar on the iphone. reports say the company paid apple $1 billion in 2014 and google also has a deal to provide apple with a cut of revenue generated through searches made on the iphone. the details were disclosed as part of a copyright lawsuit by google by softwaremaker oracle. sam and kris, back over to you. >> a billion sounds like a lot of money, but then you look that they had $66 billion in revenue you understand how they did it. now to an investigative unit exclusive. and an unfair fight. that's how small business owners describe the legal action taken against them why a south bay company known as a heavyweight in the boxing world. >> investigative reporter taking us now inside of that controversy. >> good morning. have you ever seen ads for pay per view boxing matches? you can watch the fights on your tv at home, but businesses wanted to broadcast these events

in their bars or restaurants have to pay special commercial license fees. businesses that don't pay up are violating the law. we found a campbell-based company called j&j sports productions have sued thousands of companies across the country for cable piracy. seeks damages of more than $100,000. that's exponentially more than the cost of a commercial license. critics say the lawsuit are over the top and hurting small, family-run businesses that can't afford to defend themselves in court. the owners of a north bay bar called the 8 ball tavern are taking this a step further. they say they're the targets of a fraudulent moneymaking scheme. j&j sued them for $170,000 for airing a fight they say they never showed. the bar owners believe it's an attempt to extort money out of them, something j&j denies. you can see our full investigation online right now. just go to nbcbayarea.com and click on the investigations tab.

with the investigative unit, i'm liz wagoner. >> liz, thank you. if you have a tip for our investigative unit, give us a call. 1-888-996-tips or send us an e-mail to theunit@nbcbayarea.com. california is looking at a new way to raise revenues and the people who drive the most could be the ones digging the deepest. the state transportation department will soon launch a pilot program to test the viability of replacing the state gas tax with mileage fees instead. a small device would monitor how much you drive and that idea rattles some privacy advocates. the problem is, california's 30 cents per gallon tax is no longer generating enough cash. electric car users don't pay anything at all. >> the gas tax, which is our major source of funding is not keeping pace with our transportation need. so, we have to look at other mechanisms for raising the money. >> as part of this new program, they're also looking for 5,000

volunteers to test the idea starting this summer and that should be enough to give lawmakers a sense of whether the plan might actually work. coming up next, pedaling your way to the super bowl. commuters of all kinds are getting deep justin herman plaza in the city. we'll show you how long bicyclists, drivers and fans will be rerouted. we'll have more on that.

my buddy alan who i usually work with in the field is in trouble because he didn't cut the lawn. >> you have to give it a chance to dry out. i think sunday will be the best day to get out there and do some of those honey dos as we still see some of those showers coming down early tomorrow morning and

some wind on sunday. it looks sunny and mild. looking ahead to next week. we may be setting up for a slightly drier pattern. we do still need these waves of rain coming through every couple days but, once again, see the showers, at least holding off for several days. we'll talk more about that, but let's see how the roads are moving with mike. >> kari, it's early and it's friday. we don't see a lot of traffic out there, but we have slicker roadways. be careful, folks, even though you're able to go quicker. you need more stopping distance. southbound with that commute just starting to show a few more cars and the water kicking up off of the roadway on to the windshield of the car behind these folks. look at the map, see the green, slick roadways in membery parts of the bay. most parts of the bay, single car crash 101 at broadway. left two lanes reported blocked and we expect some slowing but we don't see it on our sensors. careful at the scene. meanwhile over here the hills of the peninsula and wetter roads to 280 and look at san jose just

saw some flashing lights escort someone off the roadway. no lanes blocked and no problem. back to you. we're inching closer to the super bowl. preparations getting under way in san francisco, which means traffic is about to become a nightmare. here's a closer look at what's going on close to the city or i should say what's going to close down in the city. sections of the embarcadero, justin herman plaza and market street are all shutting down starting this weekend. all of it part of super bowl city. also a section farther south that's popping up, that's around the mas coney center. crews will close howard between third and fourth for the nfl zone. that closure won't start until tuesday. the impacts of the big game are already being seen in san francisco this morning. >> super bowl alert signs. riders trying to figure out how to get around during the three weeks of road closures and detours. people who work near justin herman plaza say it is not going

to be business as usual. and bicyclists are not happy about being detoured on to busy battery streets. >> battery street is far from ideal to bike any hour of day and with people commuting to and from their jobs, it's going to be a dangerous situation. >> our staff coming in, staff getting out. but more importantly, our vendors. our supply deliversere edeliver. >> muni will have a bird-eye view because they put up 25 camera just in time for the big game. muni says the cameras are not super bowl related, although they may help with that traffic flow. >> our super bowl l coverage continues. kickoff now only 16 days away at levi stadium in santa clara. >> once upon a time that ticker said 365 days away. a private and illegal surprise for the restaurant

patron. the item she foundburrowed away in a restroom trash can.

=trt :06= sam/cont.vo a shocking dio >> we don't know what he could have done or what he could have done with the videos. a shocking discovery at a bay area restaurant. the reason the woman who made this disturbing find is pushing for tougher charges in a story you'll only see on nbc bay area. plus, bracing for a blizzard of epic proportions on the east

coast and impact it could have at bay area airports. and from an intense snow storm on the east coast to a rain storm here locally. the wet and windy conditions we're facing this morning. "today in the bay" starts right now. and on this friday, good morning, thank you for joining us. i'm sam brock. >> i'm kris sanchez in for laura garcia-cannon. let's take a live look outside. we want to start with our microclimate forecast for you this morning. on the left-hand side san jose getting some sprinkles right now and san francisco getting more rain. sweeping wind also flowing through the area and both cities expected to see more raindrops this morning. there is more rain where this is coming from. take a look at the radar. we'll show you what's coming your way. that could mess up your friday plans, maybe your saturday plans, too. >> although we hope it doesn't extend that far. team coverage here to get you out the door this morning.