right now at 4:30, breaking overnight. held up at gun point. two armed robberies in a matter of minutes in the south bay santana row. we're live with what we learned. new this morning. major response after a fire breaks out over a recycling center on the peninsula. and caught. police say they finally have the man responsible for shooting an occupied cars in san jose. the clues in the case that led to his arrest. "today in the bay" staurts right now. good thursday morning. thank you for joining us. i'm sam brock. >> i'm laura garcia-cannon. we want to get right to mike inouye with a look at the morning commute. two problems out there. first one starting in fremont. >> that's right. starting in fremont but the bay bridge has a major issue. the rest of the bay looks good

as far as the speed sensors go. southbound 680 just reopened. full closure and now all lanes have opened. clean up around washington boulevard taking you down toward the parkway or durham. that whole stretch is clear. recovery anywhere south of an andrade. three lanes were closed lower deck of the bay bridge heading towards treasure island where there is police activity. far right lane is still closed. we've been following this for hours overnight. if this progresses we're going to have a problem for the morning commute. right now it's okay but we've been following this for hours. right now pete suratos is on the scene and he has the latest for us. pete? >> reporter: sorry, we actually lost the connection there. can you hear me back there? >> we can. >> we're here on the eastbound side of the -- good morning. we're on the eastbound side of

the bay bridge where you can see down the way you've got san francisco police, negotiators talking with a man. they told me off camera. around 11:00 p.m. near the trans bay terminal. at that point he made his way here on the ledge area and walked in this area. and that's when people started calling in to chp saying there's a guy walking on the bay bridge. he hopped over to this side. they tell me he stuck on one of these metal structures as we speak. trying to talk with him. they don't know if he's a trans yebt. he got on a fight on the trans bay terminal and ended up here. blocking off three lanes of eastbound traffic on the bay bridge. right now we're not seeing traffic but that's going to pick up as the morning goes on. we're hoping to get more details from sfpd or chp who is handling this investigation and once we go we will bring you back to you in the news room, guys. >> all right. very tenuous situation there. pete suratos, thank you very much. 4:32. also new this morning.

scary moments outside a busy shopping center in the south bay. two armed robberies in a matter of minutes at santana row. >> kris sanchez is live with what we learned overnight. kris, these attacks happened a little after dinner time. good morning. >> reporter: right, they were armed robberies that happened just right after the 9:00 hour. so at a time where this would be a busy walkway with folks leaving stores that close at 9:00. behind me you see an intersection where one of the armed robberies allegedly happened. you see the h and m store. there's tommy bahama. about 400 feet away is a parking lot area near the apartment complexes and that is where the second robbery happened. again, within minutes. and 400 feet away it wouldn't have taken long for somebody to walk that way. we have a map so that you can see which locations we're talking about. police have not given us any specific details at this point about what those armed robbers were armed with nor what they may have taken from the victims

but we had a viewer call us, she wanted to make sure that people knew this happened here so that they can be aware as they come this this very popular spot where lots of folks stakeser shop, and dine. in san jose, kris sanchez, "today in the bay." >> thank you very much. developing right now, still smoldering. firefighters are mopping up after battling a fire at a recycling center in san carlos. this all happened at the sure way environmental center onshoreway road. the massive conveyer belt is what caught fire and the flames spread from there growing into a four alarm fire which means that more crews had to be called in to help out. nobody was hurt and the fire is out now but firefighters are going to keep watch throughout the morning. developing now, an underground explosion so strong it destroyed a manhole cover leaving it in pieces. these pictures are from the alameda county fire department. firefighters say an underground electrical vault exploded last night about 10:00.

it happened at center street in grove way. luckily no one was hurt but hundreds of homes and businesses lost power. many still without power. pg&e is working on restoring that and looking into what caused the explosion. a violent crime spree could be coming to an end in south jose. >> to the relief no doubt of many people. police say they caught the man accused of terrorizing drivers. 30-year-old michael lewis is allegedly behind the rash of shootings. each time firing just once, often after midnight as those cars are on the roads. these shootings started back in may. they continued for months through august. some people tell us they stopped going out at night out of fire. >> because my wife and myself travel through this area quite frequently. we live less than three minutes away. >> now people can live in peace. they don't have to worry about getting shot. >> of the ten shootings, two people were wounded by shrapnel or flying glass as a result of the bullets. san jose police say that lieu

wes was arrested august 16th on an unrelated charge. but detectives say they found a handgun that matched without a connection i should say to one of the shootings. lewis faces four counts right now but attempted murder. being held in the santa clara jail without bail. 4:36. let's check in with anthony. he is in for kari. we'll have a look at that forecast. >> good morning. looking at a much cooler day across the bay area. yesterday we had sweltering temperatures. triple digits. back to 60s at the coastline. we'll talk about the full forecast and the weekend ahead. a calm commute right now except for the bay bridge. we're looking at the treasure island tunnel. bright light there. activity on the san francisco side. police activity. we'll give you the latest coming up. plus, it's rare you hear from a suspect accuse of attempted kidnapping but you will this morning as the south bay man arrested speaks out from behind bars.

police are warning of a possible hate crime in antioch. they say an african-american m police are warning of a possible hate crime in antioch. they say an african-american family woke up to a frightening scene. this a glimpse of what they saw afterwards. family members found the home on fire around 3:00 yesterday morning. this happened on mccormack court

in antioch. there were three adults foornd you children inside at the time. they managed to get out. but once outside the home, another very disturbing discovery. >> the "n" word and a swastika on the front. >> which is why we're treating this as a hate crime. >> whoever did this could be facing attempted murder charges because the fire was strategically set to trap those people inside their house. the homeowner says surveillance video did capture images of the suspect but so far no arrests. in a jailhouse interview we at nbc bay area the sex ander of trying to accuse kidnap and sexual assault two south bay girls says he didn't do it. >> that's kidnapping, right? if you were to talk to somebody and walk away, that's not kidnapping. that's not even attempt. >> david lee russell said he had no idea he was wanted. after two alleged attempted kidnappings. san jose police finally tracked him down near oakland road tuesday. when asked if he shaved his

facial hair to avoid detection he offered this explanation. >> i don't have guy hair. >> you didn't do any of that to change your appearance? >> no. i didn't even know none of this was happening. >> the prosecutor says he will seek a life sentence. russell is being held without bail. he will return to court in one week. 4:41. coming up next, unveiling new features in a world's most popular smartphone. apple upgrading bread and butter product but will the new iphone 7 have shoppers breaking out their wallets come this fall?

all right. a little bit cooler today, i guess than what we were seeing yesterday. >> a nice thing. >> it's going to be much cooler. even inland valleys. not talking triple digits. back in the 80s for the inland valleys. let's show you what we're looking at. from our sky camera network, clear conditions from every vantage point. we don't have fog impeding our view this morning. clear skies once we get going. coastal fog but temperatures this afternoon are going to return back to where they should for the most part. back closer to 70 degrees in san francisco after getting in the 80s yesterday. tri-valley no more temperatures near 100 that closer to 90 today. not as hot. still warm. 76 for the peninsula. 88 for the south bay. now you look at the map and you will notice the cloud cover off the coastline. five miles. over highway 17. a lot of that stays across the

coastal ranges. looking at clear skies. winds later on will start to pick up. they're going to shift today out of the south more towards the west. that's why we're going to get rid of that hot desert air and eventually we'll see temperatures cool off because of that cool westerly breeze. 69 degrees in san francisco. 82 for palo alto. san jose, 87. same for livermore and fairfield and concord, 89 degrees. the high pressure we had over the past couple of days is going to start to fade away. this is our jet stream. highway for our storm track. look what happens as we head towards next week. we get you into saturday. the north. once we heads towards sunday and monday that sags south and our computer models put this right over us. green stuff, remember that? that's shower activity, rain. we track that in the winter time. we may be seeing some of that as we head towards next week. we will track it and let you know. here's a look at the seven-day forecast. in the meantime, temperatures do cool off. look at the highs for next week.

70s for some of our warmest locations. monday and tuesday. san francisco, cool and comfortable with more clouds by next week. temperatures only in the low 60s by next week. so very interesting change in our weather. what's happen og the roadway, mike? >> head for the weather but the trafficwise we still have problems. early but we'll talk about fremont in a second. look t the rest of the bay. zoom in over the bay bridge where we have this major issue going on still. police activity continues. three of your eastbound lower deck lanes are closed on the san francisco side of treasure island. just past the tunnel itself we have one of your westbound lanes closed, your right lane. pete suratos is out there. we have his camera crew showing us what things are like. two right lanes of that lower deck get out of san francisco passing the scene. police activity. it sounds like there's someone that may be on the edge there of the bridge and they're talking to them. been talking to them for hours.

meanwhile, look back at the maps. we don't have a lot of slowing except right back at the scene. we will have a major issue because if one of the westbound lanes are close and the metering lights will turn on slower. that could mean more problems. slowing here southbound out of sunol and fremont. the earlier crash had that closed at washington. now recovery there and clear for the rest of the bay. live shot at sunol shows you traffic is flowing smoothly. >> leave us on a high note. thank you very much. apple rolled out its latest gadgets and upgrades but they also took something away. >> for that and the rest of your news before the bell we turn to landon dowdy live at cnbc's world headquarters. good morning, landon. >> good morning. wall street could be set to edge higher as opening the bell today. stocks sending mixed on wednesday with the nasdaq hitting another record high. our report from the federal reserve striking a positive tone on the economy but also noting that the presidential election is making some companies

cautious about expanding their business. but also nearly 12 points to 18526. the nasdaq rising 8 to 5283. meanwhile, preorders for the new iphone 7 starts this friday. apple showing off the device yesterday. game changing updates but there are some new features. and now comes in black. it's more water resistant, thanks to the removal of the headphone jack. stereo speakers and longer battery life. the bigger iphone 7 plus comes with a dual lens cameraal of u allowing you to zoom in further. $649. you can buy apple's new wireless air pods that cost $159. and consumer's opinions about chipotle have jumped in recent weeks on continued concerns about food safety. the chain has increased promotions over the past several months as it tries to win back customers following a series of food borne illnesses last year. at least for some people those

outbreaks still resonate with them and eating at chipotle just isn't the risk. >> thank you very much. 4:49. lawmakers on capitol hill will now investigate the massive mark-ups of epipens. the senate panel opened inquiry into the matter. milan raised the price from $100 to more than $500 over the last eight years. mylan blamed the health care market for the price increase. following public outrage the company is offering a coupon and developing a cheaper generic version of that drug. this is almost a rhetorical question in the bay area but you spend a lot of time driving, sitting in traffic? you're not alone. americans spend on average more than 17,000 minutes behind the wheel each year. research shows nearly 88% of people, 16 and older, reported driving last year. now drivers traveled almost 11,000 miles on average and spent more than 290 hours on the

road each year. by the way, men tend to drive more than women. more than 2,000 miles more per year. a potential win for uber. court rules drivers suing the ride share company must resolve their claims individually and not through a class action lawsuit. ruling came over a lawsuit by drivers claiming uber's background checks violated their rights but most drivers signed an agreement with uber three years ago opting to resolve disputes through an independent arbitrator. the federal court is upholding that agreement. the ruling could affect another class action lawsuit that claims uber exploits drivers by treating them as independent contractors and not employees. a once popular movie theater in the south bay is closing its doors for good. camera 12 in san jose is going out of business. the owner said that after a decade of losing revenues they just couldn't keep the cinemas open. the trio of an jose state self professed film geeks opened their first movie house camera 1 in 1975. in 2004 the team took over the failed united artist theater and

turned it into what is now camera 12. this complicates things for film festival which begins in march and is scrambling to find substitute venues. thinking about visiting yosemite soon, you will have 400 more reasons to. that's how many acres of meadows and forests are being added to the national park. it's largest expansion in decades. the money to buy the land came from donations. the new land will include wetland, home to crucial wildlife and plant species. yosemite is celebrating the centennial anniversary with the national park service this year. coming up, claims of sexual harassment on the south bay campus and now the university involved is taking heat for its response. why a professor's suspension has in asking if the punishment should have gone further. first, happening right now, colin kaepernick says he has no regrets about national anthem protests. now he's getting support from a huge athlete. warriors star steph curry.

read what curry has to say on nbcbayarea.com. and a new look at the transit center in san francisco and design includes what looks like a miniature bay bridge. check out the photos for yourself right now on our facebook page. more news after the break. we'll be back in two minutes. a san jose state professor

accused of sexually harassing a student was investigated, suspended....but allowed to keep his job. san jose state professor accuse ochd sexually assaulting a student was investigated, suspended, but allowed to keep his job. growing anger on campus is forcing the university to reopen this issue. last year a student accused plo pro fesser lewis aptikar of repeatedly asking if she were single and saying he wanted to date her. his lawyer says that the class was discussing romantic relationships and his comments were all made in context.

but the university investigated him and found him to be inappropriate. he was suspended for ten days but was not fired. all this was brought to light by a san jose mercury news investigation. >> makes me question like what other things have they just pushed under the rug. >> it's pretty shocking. i haven't heard anything of it besides right now. so it makes me uncomfortable. >> this week the new university president says the allegations are troubling and aptikar is going to be investigated again. the professor is now on paid leave. it is 4:55. a new student living learning community is causing an uproar in southern california. like many colleges across the country, cal state los angeles has some campus housing set aside for students with similar interests or common academic goals. kit be for movie fans, hisry buffs but can also be designated based on cultural or ethnic interests. so when cal state l.a. opened a new black living learning community some were taken back.

many were con fupsed an believed it was segregated house for black students only. the university says it is for students, quote, interested in issues of concern to the black community. the school even says there's a waiting list to get in. >> this is not segregated housing. this housing is open to all students. it focuses on academic excellence and programs that are inclusive and nondiscriminatory. >> uc berkeley offers african-american, asian-pacific american, native american among their themed housing options. laura, happening today changing of the seasons, football coming back. and you know what that means. the quality time with your significant other. >> see you later. >> -- might be going down a little bit. say good-bye to all the football fans in your life. it is officially the start of the nfl season. it is game day in denver. a rematch of the super bowl. the nfl starting right where it left off. that's going to pit the denver broncos and the carolina panthers. >> it's going to be unbelievable. i mean, this is the type of

snernlg y energy you want. this kickoff game is like the super bowl. the magnitude of it. >> music stars dierks bentley and one republic are also going to kick things off musically tonight. you can watch all of the action right here on nbc bay area. the nfl kickoff pre-game show starts at 4:30 right after an early edition of nightly news with lester holt. then the game with kickoff set for around 35g 30. >> look at that sparkle. >> i can't even verbalize how excited i am. stick around for a special edition of nbc bay area after the game. >> a new sparkle in his eye. >> the twinkle. you know it. >> we know it well. we've been having hot weather lately, too. cooldown on the way? >> perfect football weather headed our way as we head towards next week. 70s on tap for daytime highs. 20 degrees cooler than we were 24 hours ago. we'll talk about that coming up. and we're looking over here towards the bay bridge. we still have activity on the san francisco side of that treasure island tunnel.

you see traffic flowing but i see slowing on the sensors and we do have pete out there. we'll talk about what the impact will be on your morning commute. plus, new overnight. two armed robberies within minutes of a popular south bay shopping area. why shoppers familiar with santana row may need to be on alert.

right now at 5:00, a popular shopping center turned crime scene. what we learned overnight about two armed robberies win minutes

of each other at santana row. plus, an alleged serial south bay shooter is off the streets. the man now behind bars accused of terrorizing san jose drivers. "today in the bay" starts right now. a very good now thursday morning to you. thanks for joining us. i'm laura garcia-cannon. >> i'm sam brock. we have a developing situation that has been going on four four or five hours at this point on the bay bridge. mike inouye joining us now. several lanes closed as a result, mike. >> that's right. the issue is the commute is starting to build. it hasn't been a problem for an hour. as far as the speeds go as we look at your map we don't have in any issue except for that bay bridge. that's the lower deck on the divided side, san francisco side, approaching treasure island. three left lanes are closed there. lanes one, two, and three coming over from the left side. as you get out of oakland we do have your right lane closed goating out of the treasure island tunnel. that will be an issue starting now because the commute starts to build. we'll give you the live look from emeryville.