welcome to "assignment 7". today on our program, new technoly that looks fun to fly. this bay area invention could one day power 3,000 homes. plus, a bay area doctor's volunteer work i africa is now on a mission to build a new hospital. and a nontraditional ending to a great love story. the bay area couple willing to do a lot of work to live the american dream. al right. watch out, one east bay city is turning t an old-fashioned method of grabbing the attention of speeders. a park decoy police car with nobody in it. don sanchez hits the road. >> reporter: y're tooling along clayt road and maybe in a hurry. thspeed limit is 40 miles an hour, but you are pushing it.

then look, a police car. wow. got to slow down. you pass, you notice there is no one in there. the police chief calls this decoy an effective traffic tool. >> high visibility. police car has an effect on calming the trafficnd slowing it down. >> repter: the chief got the idea from wha the chp did in the '60s near highway 17. they would place car size billboard replas along the road. it slowed things down, a psychological thing. >> people have a tendency to go too fast, so when we see a police car we slow down to within the sed limit. >> i think it's a great idea for people to slow dow on the street. >> reporter: are you sometimes speeng? >> not really. i he two kids. so i havto be really careful. >> basically a plot to its plan. a metho to the madness. have a police presence, be out there and be seen and people abide by the rules. >> reporter: to keep it interesting, they rotate the vehicle ang six different

locations. there is nobody in there now, but you just never know. >> if t community gets awfully used to where the car is, there will be an officer working radar, for example. >> sometimethey are in it and a lot of people that live here get used to the decoy car thinking there is no one in it. an then all of a sudden, they're getting pulled over. >> reporter: course, that may not happen if you let the car sit too long. and the battery goes dead. whoops. clayton, dna sanchez, abc 7 news. >> two years from now you may see wind power being generat by a new flying machin david lie gives us a look at the new technology. >> reporter: wind turnes are familiar site inigh wind area. hey're one way to harne energy. these engineers are convced we should be generating pow from wind at a new level. at 2,000 feet. they've designed a self propell device that can take off from the ground, find

timum wind and generate electricity. you wouldn be wrong to call it a kite. >> it' just like a kite. we're building very large computer controlled kites to harness the incredibl energy of the wind. >> reporter: joe is betting $5 million of his own money that he's right. he made his fortune from this nvention for cameras, the governmental reconcile la p. he and a te of engineers and scientist asseled from top universits have been quietly developing the technology. this is the first time they're giving tv cameras proof how close they are to deploying airborne wind turbine. >> the winds are stronger and more consistent. so that means we generate more power, more of the time, using a machine that costs less money. >> report: this video shows how the electricity will be transferred to the power grid on the ground by a long cable. the next generation devices will be 20 times the size of this one, capable of powering 3,000 homes. he says that'snly two years fr now. his team has created technology

farore sophisticated than it appears. >> are -- we have a real passione and hard working team dedicated to the way we power civilization. >> reporter: what y saw is the tip of the iceberg. the engineers will be launching even larger versions of their device in the months ahead from their field of dreams. in the santa cruz mountains, abc 7 news. >> it's now possible to test for dna match in tens of thousands of samples at once. laence livermore lab says the new technology was used to confirm the contamination of a vaccine. richard reports o the drive to discover faster, more precise netic testing. >> reporter: on this glass slide is a chip with the dna of 38,000 viruses and 3,500 bacteri wash it with a test sampl and in less than 24 hours, it will tell you whether that sample contains any of those bugs. it's called a microbial

detection array and has potential in bio defense, potential in the doctor's office. >> it can tell you quickly in a clinical setting what the infection is that people have. it can be used for product safety. it could tell you how clean a rter: in fact, it plaedoduct an important role in confirming th discovery of a benign pig virus that was hiding inside a vaccine for children. >> we were very surprised to find this virus in the vaccin this is unexpected. >> reporter: oduct safety regulations don't require a drug manufacturero know everything that is in a medication. just certain harmful things that are not. however, this technologyould for the firstime enable them to know everything that's in i and the conceration. the study validated a powerful techlogy deveped at lawrence livermore nation laboratory. imagine a microscopic checker board with more than a million squares on it. each square holds a probe for a different sequenceof genes.

dipped in a soup of sample dna, those probes will stick to their matching gene. in this box a laser scans the board and dislays every square with a match. no test on the market can do wh this lab can. a desk top version is possible. >> definitely, that is something that we're very interested in. >> reporter:ith the next step in genetics, abc 7 news. >> a support group none of us want to belong to. >> i want you to stop. i want you to stop. >> coming up, how some bay area mothers are helping each other out in the worst o times. and what started with a bay area doctor's mision to bring health care to kenya is now a movement to change countless lives. ok, so jen, you go deep...

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supporting eac other during the wors time of their lives. >> i don't want no mother to feel what i feel. >> reporter: they call themsels a mother's cry, a group of women mostly from richmond, who lost children to gun violenc >> i told them i wish it was me. >> reporter: a mother's cry. her son, thomas, was gunned down at a richmond bus stop in 2006. >> i was going through so much. i stayed in the bed for about two months, didn't take no bath. i couldn't do nothing >> reporter: she couldn't pull hersel out of her grief, whi turned into depssion. finally she figured out a way to make sure thomas didn't die in vain. >> i can't tnk about my son right now because my son is gone. i can't think -- my mind son theseother kids that's out there in these streets. my mind i focused on them. >> where are they coming from? these big guns? >> reporter: her group has grown as the cycle of violence

exples in richmond. >> i got a call from my sister-in-law that my son was shot. >> reporter: carol lynn's 22-year-old son was sho and killed while walking down a richmond seet eight years ago. >> what people fail to underand is that this carries on forever, you know. you need somebody and you might just be the person that someby else needs. all need somody to lean on. >> reporter: each time someone's child dies in richmond and surroundingommunities, she reaches out to that family, a mother's cryffers everything from help with funeral arrangements and family meals to long-term support that as simple as a hug or smile. >> when you got sombody else to an on besides your family, 'cause it' a lot of people you can go to and tell things you wouldn't tell your family, so i think this is group is good. >> reporter: in 2/2 years, a mother's cry has grown to 96 members. she would b happy if that number stayed right where it is.

>> i wish it would stop. i wish it would stop. >> reporter: a mother's cry, a club n one ever hopes to join, but one these women wouldn't live without. in richmond, laura anthony, abc 7 news. >> a doctor who vised kenya six years ago and never imagined it wod mark the beginning of a life long program that would transform live carolyn johnson has the doctor's markable journey. >> when we got there, there was nobody else there. it was a forgotten little corner that had never seen international aid. >> reporr: but the people of ral western kenya knew what they needed and dr. wagner would be just the person to help them eablish quality health care. >> i don't know another program like this in the world founded by one or two individuals for wh it was a part-time interest. >> dr. pearl is ceo of the group. >> they dn't have a staff, they didn't have a fundraising machine or a corporation behind them. they just went out and did it 'cause it was the right thing to do. >> reporter: a friend of

dr. wagr's daughter, a young kenyan, invited her to come help in the rural community where he grew up. she brought a team of seven other kaiser doctors for the first trip. >> we gothere and we found incredibly ck people who were incredibly knowledgeable and pro-active and th hooked us. >> whethert was malnutrition, malaria, worms, itas amazing because they appreciated your services. >> reporter: this pediatrician has been back seven times since that initial journey using all her vacation time and even taking unpaid lee to teach pediatrics and followp on health care programs she's established with the kenyan, from fighting malaria to deworming children. >> our goal is to really create a healthy community and the people are so appreciative. theeople have become like family. >> reporter: that original missio treating 5,000 people at ten free clinics sparks the creation of healing, the brain child of dan and dr. wagner.

>> da and i are both dreamers. every sp of the way, people told us, you can do that. that won't work. why won't it work? sure it will work. then we went ahead and did it. >> reporter:hey have 72 paid kenyan employees, a federal grant of $1.5 million for aids relief, a dead indicated team of volunteers year rnd, and the plans to build a first class hospital. >> we have enoughoney to build the first module and i'm hopg that when people see it, especially kenyans and they see that we're not scamming tem when we're asking for money, that more money will come. >> reporter: she's most proud of the people here and the partnship that fostered health, changed lives, and shaped a community. >> it's probabl the most important thing that i'll ever do with my life. >> reporter: carolyn johnson, abc 7 news. >> dr. wager has a famous patient in cani can't, sarah obama,the president's grandmother. hear that portion of the

interview and find out ways to help them continue to thrive, go to our web site and click under "assignment 7" on the left side of the front page. and when "assignment 7" continues, some of the northern california's biggest seafood supplie pass a big test. plus, a low tech solution to save crumbling cliff. >> my grandather bought the place in the early 1900s. little by little, we figure about a foot a year. >> up next, a coastal community that's been fightingff the forces of nature for decades. can i eat heart healthy without giving up ste?

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weome back. green peace is out with a ranking of the best and worst stores selling seafood. when it comes to profits versus the environment. the story from abc 7's karina rusk. >> reporter: green peace says for e first time ever, half of the nation's 20 largest seafood retailers receive a passing grade when it comes to sutainable seafood policies. san francisco office of green peace, the score card called carting away the oceans, ranks retailers. >> wee got stores like target which have made incredibly positive decisions to do things like sp selling all forms of

farm saln. >> reporter: target ranks number e on the national list. other northern california chains to get passing grades include whole food safeway, wal-ma, and trader joe's. consumers s that list gives them a good idea of where to shop for more sustainable seood. >> i do like that as a custor. >> also try to avoid the ones in dang, like chile and sea ba. >> reporter: trader joe was the effort of lobing and went from the bottom ofhe list to breang into the top ten after hearing from its customer trader joe's made a public mmitment to only buy seafood from susinable sources by the end of 2012. many people say awareness surrouding the issue is growing. >> food supply fr the sea, which we once considered unbnded, is now boundednd especially with some of the toxins that are in the fish also. >> reporter: green peace gives low marks to costco and

albertson, sang neither company changed its seafood buying practices and those licies are harming the marine environment. >> if you're making millions and millions of dollars year by selling fish, you need to take respsibility for the fact that you are having an impact on the ocean. >> reporter: karina sk, abc 7 news. >> california's coast line is getting smaller. 86% of it is eroding. in some places by up to ten feet a year. dan ashley feature has bay area community that's trying to me sure it doesn become the next pacifica. >> you can look overy left shouldernd see a rather large block that h just fall. >> reporter: this crumbling cliff is dot hill. just south of santa cruz. 70 feet high with a lin of houses along the top. bert gibbs owns one of the houses. he's enjoyed the view for all of his 80 years. >> my grandfather bought the place in the early 1900s. >> reporter: but the stretch of land in front of his house is

disappearing. >> little by little, we figure about a foot a year. >> reporter: whehe was a boy, there was a double row of pine trees that created a lover's lane along the cliff. by the 19 60s, those trees were falling off the edge, but there was still a two lane road in front of the houses. now that road is just a foot path. >> it does bother me 'cause i'd like to have it stopped. >> reporter: erosion has been an issue since it was founded as a summer resort in 1874. records at the historical muum show the developer didn't let anyone bui close to the cliff. but when he died that changed. >> people ban, with the desir to get a good view, came closer and closer. >> reporter: over the years, residents considered a lot of ways to save depot hil in the 1960s, there was a plan to build a big hotel along the face of the cliff. >> beyond that, on the sea ward side, th were going to put 1,000 car parking lot, which would have been interesting the first high tde. >> reporter: the hotel wasever built and the erosion continued.

in the '80, they tried placing giant plastic seaweed along the cliff, but it floated away. >> i think we would give anythi to try. >> reporte homeowners were pushing for a seawall. but politics and environmental oncerns got in the way. so now they've turned to engineer john. his plan is to build up the beach below the cliff. >> that's a much more natural protection structure. >> reporter: at low tide, there's a nice broad beacht the base of depot hill. but at high tide, it disappears. waves constantly hit the cliff. eang away at the rock. >> right now we' looking at a wave cut notch at the base of this sea cliff and you can see that it's approximately 2 1/2 feet deep. >> reporter: water seepi through the rock makes the situation even worse. john wants to fill in the notches with a cement-like mixture and bring in sand to make the beach high and wider so waves don't hit the cliff.

the key to making it work is what's called a groin. it basically a jetty, a line of roc sticking out into the water. the rocks keep the sandrom washing away. this groin was blt in the 1960s to build up the main beach. it works well and john wants to build more of them along depot hill. but it won't be cheap. >> the groin field that ihink is necessary to protect depot hill is more than hundrds of thousands. in the millions. >> reporter: the homeowners probably can't afford that. but gary, who moved here four years ago, hopes that they can get government or conservaon groups interested. >> the real key is commence a large group of people o the value of maintaining our shore line. >> reporter: the project would create a mile of wider, more usable beach that would connect the commercial center with a state park on the other side of depot hill. >> everybody involved rely wants t see the beach viable, successful, small beach community. this would be an important part of that. to lose this important historic

te frankly, would be a real tragedy, i think. >> reporr: the idea of building up the beach is still inhe early stages. bert gibbs is all for it. but if it doesn't happen, hey, he's not leaving. >> 'cause i love it here. >> reporter: danashley, abc 7 news. >> final approval of the project will be up to the california coastal commission. and we have a love story where education came first. up next, the local couple living their american dream. you want some fiber one honey clusters?

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all around 0 calories each. yoplait. it is so good. the imag from haiti are heart-breaking-- homes, hospitals, and schls destroyed; families searching for loved ones; parents trying to feed tir children. but we can all do something. we can help the american red cross as it delivers the food, but water, and medineething. that can save lives. donate $10 by texting "haiti" to 9-0-9-9-9. visit redcross.org or call 1-800-red-cro. thanks for your help. we have one of those boy meets girl stories with an extraordinary ending. it's the tale ofwo mexican immigrants who put education ahead of everything else and now 's paid off big time. now more from redwood city. >> reporter: aldo garcia was in love, at age 17, he left mexico, alone, to follow his girlfriend,

whose family had just moved to california >> i couldn't take care of myself. i know how to cook. >> repoer: this is not your typic love story. both garcia and his girlfriend left mexico for two reasons. a better life and a better education. >> since i was three years old i told my father i want to go to a universityn the u.s. they're the most amazing. >> reporter: they are justbout to complete the two-year degree. both are majoring in computer engiering. >> we take all the same claes. >> reporter: they both have a 4.0rade point average. garcia is this year's valedictorian. >> yea he's more eloquent. >> reporter: now they're transr to go a four-year college. they've already been accepted to several univeities. >> so f ucla, uc berkeley,

santa clar university and others. >> reporter: and they are waiting to hear from some of the private ones. >> stanford, brown, and others >> reporter: tuition will be possible thanks to the jack kent cook undergraduate transfer scholarsh. >> it's prestigious, the richest scholarip for community college students. you can only nomate two students a year. so the fact that we nominated two students and we won both of them is tremendous. >> reporter: and only 50 students from across the nation end of getting one of these scholarships. the recipients are awardedp to $30,000 a year to finish college. they've already agreed to attend e same university regardless of who gs in and who doen't. >> we'll go to berkeley. >> repoer: tough call. both say they will sta in the u.s. even after reaching teir goals. in redwood city, abc 7 news. >> congratulations are in order. if you want more infortion on the stories on our program

today,o to our web site, abc ab7 news.com and look under the news links on the left si for "assignment 7". that's all for this edition of "aignment 7". i'm kristen sze. thank you for joining us. we'llee you back here next time.