♪ we don't find the child alive. today we did. >> good samaritans step up to save a little girl's life after she was grabbed and kidnapped by a stranger in the central valley. >> and fresno police say tha eight-year-old girl is safe after a nearly12-hour ordeal and the accused kidnapper is in custody following a frightening drama triggering an amber alert and manhunt. >> we all heard the story of a stranger luring chdren to his vehicle and driving away with the child never seen again. except for the fact this story has a decidedly diffent ending, that's and what happened in fresno. >> it was the highlight of my career seeing elise aand her mom

unite in that hospital room. we beat t odds. >> amber alert executed perfectly. abducted o the street last night, a short time later the statewide notification goes into effect. a deription of the girl and the suspect is broadcast. the mother'plea hits the airwaves. >> all sheants is her daught home and please safely. >> surveillance video of the kidnapper's distinctive chevy truck is located and broadcast. this morning it is spotted by a citizen who saw it on tv. he followed the truck. >> the short time later he saw elissa stick her head up. evidently she had been on the floorboard or laying down on the seat. >> the citizen es the car to cut off the truck. elissa jumps out. less than an hour laterhe suspect is in custody. not like charl lien glass. the girl found dead two months later. her father mark is president of the beyondmissing, inc. and

advises parents to talk to their children however young. >> kids should always check with their parents before ey go someplace. that they should always be outside with at least one other person. as this little girl was. that if something feels wrong, it is wrong and they should put distance between themselves and whatever that is. >> but he says it comes down to parents taking care of business. while much needs to be done, progress has been made. >> we now have procols in place th didn't exist then. we have better control over these individuals. and we have programs like the amber alert. >> and it's because of the use of the media that the good samaritan was able to spot tha vehicle. and that's the truth. >> this is scary stuff but stranger abductions are rare. only about 125 or so per year in the united states. still, mark class advises parents to give cellphones to their children ten years of age or older. i know it's controveial but it could one more weapon to keep

your child safe. >> police know the identi of a man who intentionally ran over a motorcycle officersith a stolen van. they're looking for the elusive suspect who caused this sce yesterday on warm springs road. theresa garc is live at a fremont police departmt with the latest on the search and the injured officer. theresa? >> okay. well, first off this morning the offir is recovering at a san jose hospital after having surgery on a brok leg. as for the suspect wel there is no rest until he is in custody and now it certainly helps that they have a face to the crime. >> there's no doubt th it was an intentional act. assault with a deadly weapon attempted murder to take out the officer. >> fremont police say investigators know who they're looking for in yestery's van ramming into a motorcycle office yesterday morning. now it's just getting a few more investigative pieces into place before they reveal the suspect's picture and go for an arrest. witnesses who saw the crash near the intersection of warm springs and mission boulevard say it looked intentional. >> he was like being scrape

it was lik the motorcycle was scraping the pavement. >> then i saw this guy in a truck. >> police say when vetera officer patrick drive into the delivery van, he plowed into him 40 to 60 feet in ten miles of traffic. >> he has pretty excitizen sieve injuries to his leg, a compound fracture, some foot injuries. >> officer brauer was alert enough to radio for help. >> he was conscious the whole time. i guess it wasuite an effort to get him out from undneath the van. but he's going to be all right. >> the suspect was last seen running away towards an office complex d fremont police with a half dozen other agencies spent all day searching for the suspect. at one point officers thought they cornered him at the south hayward bart station during rush hour but it turned out to be an associate. that person was taken into custody but fremont police are not yet saying the involvement

in this case. aside from the fact that the delivery van was stolen, it's really unclear what prompted this suspect to run into the officer. now, fremont police do say they expect to release the suspect's name and photo sometime thi afternoon after a couple witnesses through photo lineups. liven fremont, theresa garcia, abc 7 news. >> all right, theresa, thk you. from oakland to aleda open after being closed seven hours following a head-on crash that began are a police chase. alameda police say driver took off after a traffic stop 12:30 this morning drivinthe wrong way into the tunnel. he slammed into tw other cars. several people were hurt, one criticly. the suspected driver -- the suspect driver and passenger made a run for it, however, they were quickly caught. >> he's been arreed for suspicus of drunk driving, for fleeing the scene of the collision. we expect he had outstanding warrants as well. his collision was the result of a deliberate act, deliberate criminal act by the driver of that vehicle.

>> and the suspect's name has not been releas. >> the former housekeeper of republican gubernatorial candidate g whitman is expected to hold a news conference any minute now in los angeles responding to recent comments from the former e-bay ceo. nikki diaz claims she was fired by whitman last june when she asked for help becoming a legal resident she claimed wittman new for years she wa in the country illegally. diaz is expected to we spond to whitman's recent comments saying she was manipulated by attorney allred. the gop candidate has repeatedly said diaz' claims were invented by democratic jerry brown as part of a political smear campaign. >> attorney general jerry brown is folk cushion on a protest in san francisco. members of a local immigrant community are accusing brown of blocking the city's efforts to opt out of a controversial

fingerprinting program. it's known as secure communities. it requires communities to accepted a fingerpnt of everyone arrested by immigrati authorities. san francisco has triedto remove itself from the voluntary program before but was told by the attoey general's office that it could not and that i was important to work with the federal government on this issue. >> both brown and whitman have been working hard to win the latino vote but that may not be an easy task. a just released hisnic center survey shows hispanic voters seem unmotivated to cast ballots this november. only half say those will definitely cast ballots to 70% of the total of the voters. 65% lien towards the democrats where as only 47% of the total u.s. voting population say they'll vote democratic. the issue most important to latinos? education, jobs and healthcar >> the pakistani american who

plotted to kill americans by setting off a bomb in newyork's time square has been sentenced to lif in prison. he bomb he pack into the back of an s.u.v. failed to detonate back in may. in court today he said he felt no remorse for his actions. when the judge asked him if he had sworn an allegiance to the u.s. when he became a citizen last year, he replied i did swear but i dn't mean it. >> a big change to one of the vehicle's oldest rating system. the tougher tt and new standards. the safety of women. >> what prident obama says is crucial to

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>> the governmen today unveiled a safety rating system for cars. it's designedo make it easier to shop as cars improve technologally. the crash test wi use female dummies. emmy schmidt reports. >> the government's new safety ratings revealed today aimed to make an impact as big as the crashes themselves. >> we have raised the bar on safety so more stars, safer cars. >> the national highway traff safety adminiration now adds side crash testing to its evaluation. another major change ads female dummies to the crash test. >> we are also rating a system now not just for male passengers or drivers but for female passengers or drivers.

that's an extraordinary leap for us. >> our concern when they announced these new procedus was we thought they could do more. >> another group, the insurance institute for highway safety, has used female dummies in its testing since 2003 after discarding the theory that protecting an average size man would protect everyone. >> we need to check out how restraint systems are working for smaller occunts and for lighter weight occupants. >> most vehcles tested under the old government system are a top five-star safety rating. not now. just two of 34 vehicles tested with the new centered. the bmw five series and hyuai sonata had stop marks. toyota tells abc news it's caused by the new testing procedures, not because the vehicle is less safe. >> the new safety ratings are all available online. the government says because of these re extreme rules, the

2011 rankings are not comparable to those of earlier years. emily schmidt, nbc news, washington. >> a complete list of new ratings for 2011 vehicles on our website, abc7news.com under "see it on tv." >> president obama today called communit colleges the unsung heroes of america's education system. the president made those comments during his first summit on community lleges, and he called on the system to produce 5 miion more graduates by the year 2020. he said it's crucial for future competitiveness. >> thank you they may not get the cret they deserve, not the same resources as other school but provide a gateway to millions of americans for good jobs and a better life. >> well, the community colleges in the united states provided students with skills training and a less expensive path to a college degree. the vice president's wife joe biden, a career teacher, is presiding over the day-lon

summit that includes representativefrom community colleges as well as business, philanthropies and government. >> let's call on mike to educate us on what the forecast is coming up. >> a lot of sunshine, slight chance of a shower today. let's see if any of those clouds are building. don't see too many right now but we will tonight and tomorrow. and after that some warm weather for the weekend. >> mike, thank you. and th big announcement today that uld bring governor schwarzeneer and the silicon valley back together again. >> and the new edition expected to bring more power to thwhite house.

♪ >> tickets for the giants' division playoff series starting thursday night are alrea sold out. however, you still have a chanc to buy tickets to the national league championship series should the giants advance. the tickets go on sale at 3:00 today. only available at the team websit at sfgiants.com. they range from 40 to $160 each.

they play thursday night and the first tch is at 6:30. >> the white house is going solar. they are plning to install solar panels on top of president obama'house by spring 2011. they will he heat water for the first family and supply electricit former president jimmy carter and george w. bush both had them during their days at 1600 pennsylvania avenue. not sure how much the solar project will cost. >> you can still get sunshine here, right? >> especially if you have a roost as big as the white house. jimmy carter had it on a smaller building next to it. it will be interesting the advance in technology and the bigger panels, how much electricity they'll get out of it compared to 20 or 30 years ago. as you mentioned, a picture towards at&t park. there's an anticipation building. friday another game, too. so will the weathe be nice?

i really think it will. first a little unsettled weather to deal with. looking at live doppler $7 hd kind of have it centered on the central valley. bigger picture, still up in the sierra, that's where moist of the moture is falling, even some snow but that starting to wane a little as that low is making its way towards us. until it does, if you're traveling that way through 5:00, we was winter weather advisories near tahoe. fartheto the south winter storm warnings because the snow is falling above 7500 to 8,000 feet. back here at home, let's talk about temperatures. you can see they were, well, mainly in the 60s. now also in the upper 50s to near 60s the monterey bay. so isolated mountain showers. a possibility today, real small one. better chanc of wet weather tonight and again tomorrow. some of those storms with hail and thunder increasing sunshine and the warmth, it starts to hit friday and build through the weekend.

for toda temperatures from 1 degr warmer in oaklan to about 9 in san jose. so extra sunshine definitely making it feel and lk a lot more brighter outside. low 70s in the south bay today. upper 60 to near 70 on to the peninsula. mid-60s north bay beaches wi mid to upper 70s in your valleys. the shore upper 60s to low 70s for you. 74 danville, low to mid-70s morgan hill, gilroy, hollisr. santa cruz and the monterey bay mid to upper 60s. for tonight you see chances of showers developing, especially in the north bay. we'll have 49 santa sa and cloverdale. the rest of us low to mid-50s. here's what's happening upstairs. watching an area of low pressure retrogde, actually moving backward from what we're used to. moving east to est.

the closer that low, the more likely to see shower activity. let'put a time frame on it. heading throug the afternoon into the evening hours. you can see some rain build in through the morninrush hour. now, it looks a lot more impressive than it is. but there definitely could be light rain and drizzle for tomorrow's morning commute and during the afternoon hours, just a chanc of scattered showers and tse will be the ones that maybe contain a little hail and thunder. once it moves on, you can see by wednesday evening everything is going to be quiet. here's your accu-weather 7-day foreca. temperatures tomorrow with the cloud cover and the rain-cooled air will drop 2 to 4 degrees. we could get a couple hundredths inch of rain in the lower level. once it passes still relatively cool but drier on thursday. the warming trend on friday and especily saturday and sunday when we'll hit the mid to upper 70s around bay and coast mid-60s and low inland.

won't be too bad. >> blue angels lookin' good. >> thanks a lot. you could have called this a case of should have mooned better. we'll explain. a man who has bee arrested in unincorporated sonoma county on dui charges because heas spotted driving away from a supermarket on his riding lawnmower. he is also facing charges of driving without a license. chp says it is a reminr that dui laws apply to anybody in a vehicle on a public road. >> less than half an hour from now, california's governor will be in palo alto to sign a series of bills to sign a donor registry. and the silicon valley will be joining him. the legiation signed at cecile packard hospital for donor regist for kidney transplants and require employees to take paid leaves of absence for bone and organ donations.

this is earli in the year when governor schwarzenegger campaigned for the legislation. >> this morning two russian-born scientis found out they won the noble prize in physics. the two men were recognize for their work with an atom-tn material expect to play a large role in electronics. a particular form of carbo research could lead to innovations in electronicings including faster computers. >> coming up, wait until you hear what actress jennifer hear what actress jennifer anniston and elaina meethe real meg whitman: serving on the board of goldn sachs, whitman was caught reaping millio from insidestock deals. after ebay shareholders sued and a dge

citethe obvious conflict of interest she was forced toay the money back. at kind of person would be involved in als a fellow republican congressman called corrupt and in her last ye at ebay, whitman paid herself $120 million righbefore the company laid off 10% of it's workers. we're choosing a governor, shouldn't character tter?

abc 7 is teaming up with the san jose mercury news for a series of hour-long election debate next thursday lieutenant governor will face off at 3 p.m. this thursday. friday october 8th, the candidates for school supentendent will debate at 11:15 a.m.. both will stream live on abc7news.com. >> and thos debates will be broadcast on suny october 10th beginning at noon. >> today on oah at 4:00, martha stewart and the comeback of her domestic empire. another first for san francisco. it is about to become the only u.s. city to use taxpayer money to fund student college savings accounts. we'll have the stories d more later today at 5:00. >> this morning a very diverse list. the world's most eligible single women. >> the top bachelorette, jennifer aniston. the 41 year old actress says despite being unlucky in love, don't pity her, she's very

happ >> halle berry, lady gaga and supreme court justice elaina kagan. >> that survey was released by vanity fair. >> she does go on lady gaga with meat dress. what do you think, mike? >> the meat wod get kind of -- >> wouldn't be very good. definitely sour in the sunshine. enjoy today. may not be that way tomorrow. >> that's going to do it for us. >> that's going to do it for us. >> have a

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