that breaking news is from the refinery in martinez which is flairing right now. >> we want to show you a live picture right now. it's very foggy outside so you can see above the fog, the plume moving to the right of your screen. this is one of our cameras. we're told this is not a dangerous situation. no evacuations have been ordered. >> we've learned there's a power outage. this is what they call a level 2 situation which means flares are goinoff to burn off whatever is in the stacks during the power outag you may see flames at the top of those stacks to burn off whatever's being admitted. the flares at the refinery in

martinez are not part of a hazardous situation however therwas a similar situation on november 11th. another power outage where they emitted flares once more and again nobody was hurt in that situatn. but we're going to keep an eye on what's happening toda and bring you the test. >> other news of the day. the house democratic caucus is saying no to president obama's tax deal with the republicans. that warning that if the deal isn't done, amerins will see smaller paychecks and fewe jobs. jenelle wang joins us from the news room. >> cheryl, the president's tax cut deal suffered a major setback and members of his own party rejected the agreement. the plan came to sell got a largely hostile perception. >> it's only going to get worse for the president if he allows himself to be phed around by this. >> a closed hill capitol hill gathering of democrats voted to reject the deal as currely

written. >> we will not bring it to the floor in its current form. >> we were told yesterday by the vice president this was a take it or leave it deal. we're saying leave it. >> many opse the tax cut for the wethy the president readily accepted in the bargain. >> this was just an uncessary bonanza for the wealthiest. i'm t sure what wi happen in its current form. >> harry reid doesn' like the current deal either. >> there are things that i think woul make the bill much better. >> independe forecasts predict that the package could create as many as 2.2 million jobs next year. >> this agreement would boost econom growth in the cong years and has the potential to create millions of jobs. >> white house economic advisor larry some mers went further, issued an ominous warning saying failing to pass the plan raises chances the economy will take a second plunge into the recession. >> speaker nancy pelosi says

democrats are committed providing tax cuts to the middle class but extending those cuts to the wealthiest of americans does not create jobs and just increases the defici she said both parties will work to approve the proposal before it goes for a vote. if a proposal is not passed by the end of the year taxes go up for all americans january 1st. jenelle wang, abc 7 news. >> jenelle, thank you very much. right now the assembly budget committee is conducting the first official review of governor schwarzenegger's proposal to close the state's latest budget deficit. the governor declared a fiscal emergency and call for a special session of the legislate church on monday to deal with a $6 billion deficit. testimony about the state's financial outlook will be provided today by the legislative analyst office and the department of finance. but it's not likely any action will be taken with just a month left before governor schwarnegger leaves offic >> we have some developing news for you righ now. highway 1 at devil's slide is

closed in both directions becausef two crashes. the firs was reported ju after 9:30 this morning on southbound highway 1. the second crash happened a short time later possibly because of the slowdown caused by the first crash. the extt of any injuries, right now the chp says they do not know how long it wi be before that roadway will reopen. we'll follow and bring you updates on the air and also abc7news.com as soon as we get them. >> the coroner's office says a woman was kied along interstate 880 in san ledro this morning after a fatal accident forced the clore of several lanes. this is southbound 880 just north of the washington exit in san leandro. after 3 a.m. somebody called, reported a body in the road. officers say it now appears that somebody got out of their car and was hit and killed. that person has not been identified but at least two cs were damaged in the crash.

>> good news for folks of that been waiting since the earthquake of 1989 for the bay bridge repairs to be finished. the worko build an eastern span is now on track to open months earlier than initially planned. terry mcsweeney joins us live with the latest. >> caltran's very pleased to present this news and that is that the eastern span of the bay brid scheduled for opening in 2014 is actually going to be opening in 2013. across the water from where i am you get a pretty good ide of the old and the new. if you want a real good idea what it's going to look like when it's completed, look like this. this i what we're going to have 2013 inste of 2014, months ahead of schedule. i said ahead of schedule. also chang before that, way before that as in the next couple weeks the third of five towers is going to be brought in and put in place. it's going to be higher than the

island when it's in there. now, other changes -- yes, there are more. by the middle of nex year, eastbound trag will be zigging south a little. >> we are going to be shifting traffic to the southeast bound heading into oakland. and once we've done that, we are going to build on to the existing westbound incline. as you're going on to the bridge heading to san francisco, you go up. that strucre's going to get wider to the south. we're going to move all that traffic on to that widened off portion and we're going to surgically cut off a portion of it and remove it so we can put a construction crew in between e existing bridge and new bridge and complete that connection on the other end of the bridge. >> wow! westbound traffic is going to be looking at some lane closures at times about a year from now. there may be one direction bay bridge closures at times. all of this to finish things

earlier and how did they do it, you say? they offered incentives to the workers in cna who are building the deck and the towers for the even spanning of the bridge. >> in san jose the police departnt is holding its anal event to help low income children during the holidays. it's called shop with a cop. theresa garcia joins us from a target store wherekids' dreams are coming true. theresa. >> good morning, cheryl. these childr were in high spirits picking things they always wanted to have like a barbie. othe with things they really need like clothes but all were in a very giving spirit, not just choosing something for themselves but also their parents. this all came together with a generous donation from target. >> the essentials of miael jackson. >> with a little help from the san jose cop and a santa's helper at target, thi boy chose a michael jackson cd as a giftor

his more. kids were browsing the aisles, each givbe a $100 card for this shopping adventure. >> they're very nice and i want to thank them. call us a bunch of al at tries tick cops. >> it's a community effort to help families enjoy the holidays. >> we're going to ha a small christmas because it's been real tough but he's excited. we'll have gifts this year. >> helping a school that has already begun through at tough year. an arson fire destroyed much of the school and children have been going to classes while it's being rebuilt. >> with trace and all the things of that happened there and with the economy and everything, it's wonderful we could here d

help them. >> pretty exciting because i got to pick things for christmas. and then like all the money for my parents to buy a lot of things. i thought that this will be my first christmas present f me. >> a in this case here in san jose, target donated $2500 for the children and then the pole officers covered any overage cost even if those kids went a litt over $100, they were pitching in. theresa garcia, abc 7 news. >> theresa, thank you very much. >> coming up next, a northern california soldier is killed while serving in afghanistan. >> protestors clash with riot police in london after lawmakers vote to triple college fees. >> and leaks for sale.

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>> a u.s. army staff sergeant from montey county has been killed serving in afghanistan. he was killed saturday in the proves in what the military called a non-combat incident. he was assigned to the 8-90th battalion. governor schwarzenegger ordered flagsor flown at half staff. >> blocking donations to

julianna assange is growing. activists are going of paypal, visa and mastercar political websites are on the list including sarah palin who has spoken out strongly against the wikileaks documents dump. they are hi with denial of service attacks which ma them run so slow they crash. >> this is a way to kind of strike back and to say, hey, you can't push us around. >> and being targeted by effectively ople who see themselves as activists an who want to make a point that they stand for the freedom of information. >> assange remains in a british prison fighting extradition to sweden to face charges for rape and sexual molestation. ironically amazon, one of the sites targeted by wikileaks reporters announced today it will sell diplomatic cables obtained by wikileaks. they will sell themt e-books.

>> in london there been another violent clash between protestors and riot police. the controversial plan will raise feeso $14,000. the prottors made their way to parliament square where they crushed against police lines. six police officers have been hurt. 19 prottors have been treated for injuries. seven people are under arrest. the e increase was approved as part othe governme's plan to reduce british's budget deficit. >> meorologist mike nicco is ahead with that foggy forecast. a lot out there. >> still a lot. causing flight arrival delays into sfo. this morning about 70 minutes. check out our flight tracker at abc7news.com. still have showers showing up on live doppler 7 hd. where they are, where they're going and how much longer we have to deal with this. >> a dir new government warning aimed at so-called social smokers. >> suckered by smurfs.

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♪ we have breaking news from just outside san diego where fire so fig officials have a ve controveial fire. police meant to destroy a house

full of explosives that sits in the middle of a suburban neighborhood. it was rented by an out of work software consultant who gathered an astonishing amount of bombing materials. bomb sad experts came up with a plan burning the house down after determining it was too dangerous getting the chemics out even with a robot. it's expected to be hot enough to destroy the chemicals. >> closed down part of a freeway. there's a new warning out for social smors. just one puff and that cigarette could be the one that causes our heart attack. smoking and health says tobacco smoke begin poisoning immediaty. there's more than 7,000 chemicals that rapidly spread through the body and cause damage to nearly every warning. even socia or occasional smoking or inhaling secondhand

smoke could be enough to block the arteries and triggea heart attack. >> a warning is going out what some call a smurf scam. smurfs village is offere from i-phone and other apple gadgets. the game has items players can buy to improve their score. most of them that young kids and don't ow they're be charged for every item that buy. last month smurf's village became the fastest growing installation in the store even though it's free. >> in san francisco the grt highway is closed in both directions from slope to lincoln due to water buildup from all the rain. no word yet when it will reopen. >> what we do have word on right now is the weather and the fog. the rain that passed through earlier. mike joins us now.

there he is! >> in the dark. now i've seen the light. i will tell you what's going to happen show you what's going on. i was tweaking doppler radar and trying to get the show together becae more rain is showing up. look how it's sitting below the bay. usually we can't see the bridge. sitting below the bridge. now it's very low. we have clouds hanging around san jose and move foet field. let's take a look what's going on as far as live doppler 7 hd is concerned. we are looking at some stuff up in the north bay, there you go, radar returns. and those radar returns are showing that the rain is going to be mong from west to east as we head throughout the afternn hours. as this moist flow continues to roll through. south bay you see that shower movingway from morgan hill but more about to moves on to the

peninsula. temperaturewise, we're going -- well, there's the showers right there. can't see very much. the showers here moving from west to eat and scattered showerss we head through the afternoon hours. temperatur, 60s mountainview. everody else in the mid to upper 50s. very mild at this lunch hour. temperates also the mid to upper 50s. most cloudy today with scattered rain. patchy fog will be thick again tonight tomorrow a warming treatment. cupertino and santa clara about 61 degrees. up on the peninsula, upper 50s to near 60 degrees. along the coast we'll have temperatures the upr 50s, even downtown san francisco 59. up through the nor bay where the rain hit first this morng, kind of locked in the cooler weather. santa rosa may make it up to 60. east bay shore, temperatures mid

to upper 50s to ne 60 in oakland, hayward and fremont. as you head inland, temperatures upper 50s to near 60 also and near the monterey bay we have low 60s and mid 60s from morgan hill and salinas. our lows tonight running in the low neighborhoods for most neighborhood. the thicst fog in the north bay with temperatures a little cooler in the mid to upper 40s. the cool front that tried to stall in. that's the low and why west a steady rain. we have to keep those scattered in the forecast. they'll be very light throughout the afternoon hours. tomorrow that money market flow will continue. we'll keep clouds in the forecast. keep it mainly right. sunshi returns saturday, sunday and monday and ou next chance would be tuesday, especially into wednesday. >> mike, thanks very much. >> you

>> today on oprah at 4:00, the connecticut doctor who lost his family in a brutal home invasion. at 5:00, an alarming new study of wom with health insurance still not getting a mammogram. >> also most popular singer to the christmas special where

everyone is a star. >> don has i all >> santa baby. ♪ >> this weekend in the center for performing arts. next weekend hot san francisc singer owen harry sings out for hunger at the hard rock cafe at pier 39. a christmas carol with music, dance and special effects in walnut creek. freedom fighters, undocument workers and melting ice caps are part of the revolutionary nutcracker sweetie. theater works presents truman capote's a christmas memory. for the 200 artist and crafts people show fine works at the crafts fair in the concourse exhibition center. ♪ >> everyone is a star in the

dance along nutcracker. from the san francisco legendary gay and freedom band. the cast of shrek perform monday for help is on the way at aids benefit at pier 39. >> scott. >> my name is shrek actually. >> and shrek forever after, out on blu-ray and dvd. you'll find more on our website at abc7news.com. i'm don sanchez, abc 7 news. >> what a great job he has. from all of us here at abc 7 news, thanks for joining

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