♪ an i-phone on a new carrier is no longer on the horizon, it's on verizon. >> some call it the worst kept secret. apple calls it the beginning of a great relationship. abc 7's jenelle wang live with details. >> kristen and eric, the date thursday, february 10th. that's when the i-phone 4 will be available on the network and customers will be given exclusive owner online a week early february 3rd. >> by the looks of all of you here in the room you're expecting a big announcement. >> we knew it was coming andship

morning january 11th at 11:11 a.m. east coast time it was confirmed. verizon wireless is officially offering the i-phone 4 ending at&t's exclusive contract with apple since the econnick device was introduced in 2007. >> i can tell you all of apple is very, very excited to bring the i-phone to verizon's 93 million customers. >> many i-phone at&t customers are happy about the news, too. >> i loved verizon's service. i get dropped calls all the time. >> that's one of the biggest complaints, dropped calls, especially san francisco and new york city. but others are worried about verizon's technology, making them hesitant about changing networks. >> i heard the internet's going to be about half as fast.

so i think i'll stick with at&t. >> but verizon says its customers won'ts disappointed. >> we spent nearly a year in extensive testing and collaborative design to assure that performance would be up to the standards our customers >> the i-phone now that you have the verizon? >> i think it's nice to have an option. i have an upgrade soon. >> at&t responded today with this statement. for i-phone users who wants the fastest speeds, the ability to talk and use apps at the same time and unsurpassed global coverage, the only choice is at&t. >> verizon's most popular smart phones which run on google's andrade system are likely to lose business. the i-phone is actually a close third. reporting live in the news room, jenelle wang, abc 7 news.

>> thank you. right now a hearing is underway in a federal courtroom in san francisco concerning facebook.com and its founder mike zuckerberg. it involves two harvard classmates who say he stole their idea for the social network. 2008 the two brothers who are olympic rowers and mba's settled a lawsuit. now they want it determined too small and throw it out. they have withheld information how valuable the company had become. >> we have breaking news. abc 7's news has just learned that san francisco's new d.a. will not retry a man who has spent decades in prison for a double murder. in 1992, a jury convicted connolly of killing two people in the bayview district. he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. a judge though recently ruled that connolly was denied a fair

trial because the defense paid thousands of dollars to the star witness and never revealed that in court. today the d.a. chose to drop the charges. that decision means connolly will soon be april free man. an east bay doctor is now akewells akewellsed -- accused of assaulting a patient and now they wonder if there are more victims. earnest simms sexually assaulted a patient. the general practitioner treated patients on tral avenue in alameda for the past six years. if you have any information on any other possible victims, you're asked to contact the alameda police department. >> fire investigators are trying to determine what started a raging fire at a belmont apartment complex overnight. dozens are homeless and three people had to jump out of the second story window including a pregnant woman. abc 7 got the frightening story

firsthand. >> one man who lived inside thought there was domestic violence going on he heard so much screaming and glass breaking but saw two of his neighbors had jumped to the ground and the building was on fire. >> i opened the door up and heat hit me in the face and i closed the door and said we're on fire. so then panic, you know, what do i do? >> tom kordell had no where to go. the fire was too intense out his front door so he ran to his balcony and realized he had to jump. he saw two of his neighborhood made the leap and he didn't want to follow. >> i saw them both on the ground crawling. they both were hurt and they were one of the first ones to be taken away. but it was traumatic at 3:00 in the morning. >> firefighters say the man jumped first and then tried to catch the woman who was 25 weeks pregnant. >> i've seen that just happen a few times over my career of doing this. desperate times call for desperate measures. so these people, you know, when you're entire complex or unit is

fully involved, you can't go through the fire, you will find a way to get out. >> firefighters say the couple was taken to the hospital with sprains. four others were transported because they inhaled too much spoke but everyone survived. tom cornell's jump turned out okay because he asked the man on the ground to bring his jeep around so he could jump on to it to break his fall. >> you're talking about jumping from a flaming building, i can say i've done that now. >> firefighters are still trying to figure out what caused the fire. they do say it started inside the building. the building has been yellow-tagged for the 36 residents who live here will have to find a new place to live. there were also several pets inside. they're all okay but an unusual assortment. animal control is telling stories having to rescue a turtle and even a python, said was pretty interesting. the pregnant lady is okay, being held for observation but she and the baby are fine. live in belmont, amy hollyfield,

abc 7 news. >> a gas leak forced residents in four homes in sun point district to evacuate overnight. a resident reported smelling gas at a home on 33rd avenue near ortega street. pg&e shut off the valve but that didn't stop the leak. the utility then resorted to use a jack hammer to break up the street and get to the actual pipe to stop the flow of gas at its sources. it took crews two hours to make the repairs. the san bruno city council will decide howto distribute $400,000 donated to help victims. last night people showed up to affront city council members. it killed eight people and dells troyed 48 homes. pg&e has now decided to stop a controversial pipeline testing method that could have played a role in the explosion. the announcement came after a san francisco chronicle report said the utility raised pressure

on the san bruno pipeline two years before it ruptured to test the lines. >> a mass will be held tonight for the victims of saturday's arizona shooting rampage. it will be followed by a visit from president obama tomorrow. doctors say the six people still being treated for gunshot wounds are making progress and that includes congresswoman gabrielle giffords who was shot in the head. giffords is alert and responding to doctors. >> we have been able to back off on some of that sedation and in fact she's able to generate her own breath. she's breathing on her own. the only reason we keep that breathing tube in is protect her airway so she doesn't have complications like pneumonia. a neighbor says suspect jared loughner's parents feel guilty about what happened and they want to know where they failed. neighbor wayne smith says loughner's mom hasn't stopped crying since saturday's mass shooting. others say they're fearfully

reclusive and some question the way the family raised their son. >> they saw a child that wanted to come out and play and wasn't allowed to come out and play. see them walk down the street, head down. no, never any words, never any gestures, nothing. >> the loughners have yet to release an official statement on the tragedy but neighbor wayne smith said the suspect's father told him he feels for his son and feels devastated for the victims and their families aback here the new san francisco board of supervisors meets this afternoon to take the final vote on the appointment of city administrator ed lee as interim mayor. lee is expected to be approved by the new board and serve out the remainder of gavin newsom's term. he was in the audience as newsom was sworn in. if approved, lee will become the first asian american to be san francisco mayor. still ahead, the new threats wikileaks founder is making and the mystery grows.

first it was arkansas, then louisiana and tennessee. now dozens of dead birds are found here in the bay area. wee i want you to >>

>> the founder of wikileaks vowed today to step up his site' release of u.s. documents while he fights extradition to sweden. that's where he faces rape charges. he had a short hearing in london today to talk about his next court date in february.

he said his expedition to fremont could lead to the u.s. and quantanamo bay. the leaks so far have damaged his international relationships and put lives at risk. >> police say they believe all three were involved when a sing the shot hit and kel grisby yesterday. he was killed as he walked out of his grandmother's home on fleming avenue. he managed to run back into the house where he collapse and died. grief counselors are on hand at the high school to cope with the loss. >> birds mysteriously falling from the sky dead. on saturday more than 100 dead birds were found clustered in guiserville. on new year's eve more than 5,000 red winged blackbirds fell

from the sky in central arkansas. reports of dead birds followed in louisiana, tennessee and even brazil. the usgs says it's relatively common and those suffered internal trauma from flying into homes and trees after fireworks startled them. >> a bankruptcy judge cleared the way for demolition to resume at the old oak noel neighborhood. lehman brothers partnered with a southern california developer in 2005 to buy the property and tear down the old buildings and build a 960 home and retail shopping area. but lehman brothers's bankruptcy in 2008 brought that project to a screeching halt. the work now with the money is expected to resume sometime this summer. >> coming up we'll talk to mike about whether we're having more sprinkles out there? >> definitely sprinkling, that's about it. there is more rain on the way and this will reach the ground

to the west, those thicker clouds getting closer. >> and elsewhere, mike, a storm that's already shut down parts of the south creates new problems today. you'll hear the story next from a young aspiring meteorologist. >> hey, ya'll! that's something special! what scientists say tweets with tell them about where a person is from. are you trapped

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♪ and a winter storm that shut down much of the south is heading north. that means for new yorkers it will be its third snowstorm in less than three weeks. the governors of half a dozen southern states have already declared emergencies. the snow dropped in several places, knocked out power to thousands of people. an atlantis international airport, more than 1,000 flights cancelled again. yesterday a very young meteorologist gave her report what things look like in texas. >> today is snow. it's snow today in -- there's a lot of snow. there's some snow on everyone's boots where they go.

so everyone is having fun out in the snow. now back to you. >> thank you very much, amy. what a fine job she did. >> i was doing those kinds of reports when i was 25. off to a great start there. >> did you have a comb then, too? >> something like that. >> very nice. >> technically not a meteorologist but a fine reporter on the weather. >> has a great job. hold my degree, yes, very close to my heart. let's talk about what some other people are doing to have fun. check this out, one man in atlanta got his skis out and got to use him without having to travel to say north carolina or new england or even out here. and he was skiing down the snow which street. and it's like waterskiing with a winter twist. we don't recommend this but having lived in the south, this is what we do. >> snow board with the cars. >> exactly. that's exactly what we're doing. the way we used to do is have a

four-wheeler. go down in the sled and the four-wheeler would take you back up the hill. >> you don't have the dog running. >> that's the only difference. don't recommend this at home but like to see what other parts of the country do for let's take a look what's going on up at heavenly. nothing right now but light snow is headed their way. that will be a nice powder to ski on tomorrow and the next couple days. back here at home looking from emeryville back to the west, trying to find those thicker clouds and i have on live doppler 7 hd. you can see some yellows and oranges, stronger stormings heading to the santa cruz mountains. over the last hour or so making a northeasterly beeline. that's across the santa cruz mountains into the south bay and possibly over into the trivalley if it holds together. that may be the first area where we see some of the rain finally reach the ground. 54 half moon bay, the rest of us mid to upper 40s as we head towards the noon hour.

around the monterey bay, low to mid-50s even a 57 monterey bay rz quite cool in gilroy at 44. light rain is likely this afternoon and this evening. mostly cloudy tomorrow with another chance of rain on thursday. it will be brighter and warmer for saturday, sunday and also monday. high today compared to average. 5 degrees cooler in oakland. san jose 7 and redwood city 8, napa. livermore 9 degrees cooler. won't even get out of the 40s. sun will set at 5:11 today. take a look what's going on upstairs. note these two areas of high pressure have a lot to do where the storm's going. northern california, oregon, washington are going to get more moisture and more snow out of this storm. we're kind of getting the leftovers or the end table scraps if you will. here's the scattered light rain developing by noon. notice that area along the coast filling in the south bay. most of us will get our heaviest rain between 4:00 and about

8:00. anyways when it will be steady -- hate to say heavy because it's going to be light. steadiest, let's go with that. left over with mainly clouds and possibility of slickness on the streets. tenth to a quarter of an inch the north bay. as far as temperatures today, we will be in the mid-to upper 40s our inland valleys. low 50s around the bay and out to the coast. tomorrow slightly warmer but cloudy with temperatures blow average. friday we see the warming friday, saturday, sunday and monday may top out in the 60s most areas. >> scientists discovering the earliest own winery. a cave in armenia has a large-scale wine setup to press the grapes, fermentation jars, even a cup and drinking bowl dating back 6,000 years.

they also found grape seeds, remains of pressed grapes and dried vines. because the winery was surrounded by graves, researchers say they think the wine may be used in ceremonies. the oldest known leather shoe was also covered in the same area of armenia. >> makes sense. if you're tweeting about your new i-phone and instead of k-o-r-your tweeting could be a sign of where you're from. we tend to hey la when we mean very. they emphasize i. and think quite a bit of themselves because they write two i's. >> in new york city? >> yeah. >> what a shock. >> pay attention to the numbers.

>> ahave been attacking this christian country, but, god is doing some great things. i'd like to have you step back just a minute and get the big picture. and then... if you really want to stimulate the economy, you cut taxes. next time on...

>> today on abc 7 news at 5:00, governor brownishes his first executive order putting the brakes on the fleet of cars lawmakers use and calling back half the cellphones distributed. plus thinking of switching your i-phone plan to verizon? "7 on your side" gives you a checklist what to consider before you make the move. those stories and more at 5:00. >> if you haven't looked at the calendar, you're waking up to january 11th, 2011.

that's 1/11/11. >> that moment of aseention would come at 11/11 this morning, about 16 minutes ago. >> anybody? >> no. most days it's fun to acknowledge the uniqueness of this day. as a wedding day the numeric imagine has been outweighed bay the fact it's a tuesday leaving most reception halls unbooked. >> looking through the refrigerator. >> from (speaking in international language) and he said unto them go ye into all of the world and preach the gospel preach the gospel ♪ every creature in the world.

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