closed captioning by closed captioning services,inc good morning i'mer rim thomas. kristen sze is off. and i'm sheryl sherr. >> investigators trying to find the cause of a blast that woke up the neighborhood in the 3800 block of ohio avenue. amy hollyfield is there. >> reporter: to give you an idea of how intense this blast was, i'm standing where pieces of glass landed, almost across the street from the house where the explosion happened. firefighters say they have never seen something quite like this before. >> i'm shell shocked, yeah.

>> reporter: he was asleep when the explosion inside his own home woke him up around 2:00 this morning. >> it was like an earthquake that's all i could say. >> reporter: a told of four men were inside the richmond home when the explosion happened. along with two dogs pete and jazzy. they all survived. the men were shaken up. two did not want to talk about it on camera. robert didn't want to give his last name. he says he has no idea what could have caused the blast. >> i'm not sure. looks like somebody threw a bomb inside. >> reporter: firefighters were surprised by the intensity of the explosion. investigators say the fact that the side wall of the house was blown off shows what a tremendous blast these men survived. >> i've been with the department 16 years this is the most significant explosion i've seen with no source. >> reporter: firefighters first suspected gas leak and shut gas off as soon as they

arrived. pg&e workers said they couldn't find evidence of a leak. firefighters say they didn't see evidence of drugs in the house. they did call in police to help with their investigation. they haven't ruled anything out at this point. friends and neighbors say they can't imagine what happened. >> i'm glad everybody is okay and it didn't damage neighbor's houses. i can imagine what it could have been. >> reporter: a total of four men were inside the home. we met three of them out here outside of the home, including one of the men who had been taken to the hospital. he was treated for burns to his legs, but fine. i checked with investigators, still no word on what caused the blast. amy hollyfield, abc7 news. a surfer participating in an elite competition at san francisco's ocean beach quit this morning after seeing

a shark. dusty pane of hawaii is one of 36 of the world's top surfers. it got underway this morning. this is a live picture of the competition area from sky 7 hd. payne left the water after claiming he spotted the biggest fin he had seen in his life coming straight at him. as you saw the event is still underway. the sighting comes days after a surfer survived a shark attack indzñ monterey county is -- san francisco police department investigating an early morning crash that sent three officers to the hospital. one officer is in critical condition. another in fair condition. the third officer has been released. the officers were in an unmarked police car ponding to a call with -- responding to a call of a man with a knife while responding their car hit a light pole. >> what we know is the vehicle

collided with a light pole on the southeast corner of the intersection of 19th street and potrero avenue all three were transported to san francisco general. they all have what are considered nonlife-threatening injuries. they were talking to the officers at the hospital. >> investigators don't believe alcohol or drugs were involved. investigators have not said whether the officers were wearing their seat belts. oakland police officers association questioning mayor quan's administration in an open letter. i comes in the face of a threatened city wide strike and in the wake of the police action she ordered last week to leer out occupy oakland protesters. terry mcsweeney with the developing story. -- >> reporter: the letter from the police officers association says officers are confused about the direction the city going. about what mayor quan wants and why tomorrow during the general strike officers may find themselves face-to-face with fellow city employees.

oakland police officers association president in an open letter to the city says: the city of oakland is this support of the stop work strikes scheduled for wednesday giving all employees, except for police officers per mission to take the day off. is it the city's intense to have employees on both sides of a skirmish line? >> i see us made out to be the bad guy. we are just taking ors from so --uçlm taking orders from the mayor's office./?j÷ just getting put on an island like we are the bad guys. >> reporter: the letter says the remove of the protesters last tuesday to allow them back in a day or so later leaves police wondering what that was about and if something more constructive might have done with the hundreds of thousands of taxpayer money spent on the effort. >> just clarity on what the mission is out there. >> reporter: at frank ogawa plaza today protesters had this reaction to the letter.

>> it is our first amendment right to go out into the streets and march. police should support that i don't understand why they think either side of the line. >> if they have their shields and batons and whatever and they see us coming upon them and drop them and engine in and fall in line that would be okay with -- them and fall in line >> reporter: if you want to read the entire letter go to abc7news.com. terry mcsweeney, abc7 news. in san francisco today mayor lee is scheduled to meet with members of the occupy san francisco camp and their supporters. today the board of supervisors will vote on a resolution which calls for the city to declare support for the occupy movement. two supervisors drafted the measure. they hope to prevent a future crackdown on the san francisco occupy camp. avellar hopes the city will continue to -- [ unintelligible ]

today the news millions of customers have been hoping for. bank of america is now dropping is plan to charge a monthly fee to customers who use debit cards for purchases. the nation's largest bank is specialed to announce today it will drop plans for the fee. the move comes after thousands of customer complaints in the last week several rival banks including wells fargo and jpmorgan chase have decided to drop their plans for similar fees. bank of america's decision is a hot topic on facebook. terry: why wait until the next time they choose to impose new fees about better to move now and not have to worry about it. bofa is going to nickel and dime us to death. janet: damage done. as soon as the heat is off, they will do something elsea screw you. i say, stay with the credit union.

solyndra will begin auctioning off some assets today as part of bankruptcy proceedings. buyers can get artwork, computers, solar pan nettles even the company microwave. facilities -- and major manufacturing equipment will not be auctioned off because the company is still up for sale. the justice department is investigating solyndra and the 500 million dollar federal loan it received. the company filed for bankruptcy in september and laid off 1,000 workers >> millions of parents use it everyday, but should they? >> the health danger some advocates say can be found in a popular brand of baby shampoo. a landing no passenger wants to be part of. the story behind this stunning

no flight delays at o'hare despite reports of a small lotion. it happened in a baggage handling area near terminal one. the blast came from a large case or package that fell on the ground after being unloaded from a plane. a handler suffered minor injuries and is being treated. police and tsa are investigating. >> incredible emergency landing in poland today. the pilot was forced to land this 767 on its belly after the landing gear failed.

it was arriving from new jersey. none of the 230 passengers onboard were injured after landing some small fires broke out under the plane but firefighters got to it quickly. passengers were taken to a medical center as pre-- precaution. poland's president thanked the crew for the successful landing. there are twin girls right now entering their fifth hour of surgery. this is a picture of the twins in their scrubs moments before going into surgery this morning. right now hospital spokeswoman says a team of surgeons are in the process of separating the two-year-old girls. the 8 to 9 hour surgery involving 30 medical personnel got underway :30 this morning. if all guess well the girls will be out of surgery by mid-afternoon. >> >> consumer groups turning up the heat on johnson and

johnson over is baby shampoo. critics are calling on them to dump the shampoo containing two chemicals. >> reporter: johnson & johnson acknowledges the formaldehyde releasing substance is in the baby shaopl pooh and the campaign acknowledges that substance is legal in the united states. the campaign says things need to change now while johnson & johnson is asking for patience. >> baby shampoos don't need to konstantin any amount of carcinogen. >> reporter: they've been talking with johnson & johnson for more than 2 1/2 years since it used a lab to test and it contained a formaldehyde releasing substance and a second potentially cancer-causing chemical. >> we brought the shampoo in

13 countries and corn firmed they are making formaldehyde versus the product in many countries but not making that product available here in the u.s.. >> reporter: johnson & johnson says it is moving toward that goal. a statement released today reads. the preservative technologies we use are approved and safely used in hundreds of millions of real life uses around the world. we know some consumers are concerned about formaldehyde which is why we offer many products without. advocates say it is taking too long and they want a date. >> it is important we take a precautionary view and get carcinogens out of products where they are not necessary, starting with the baby shampoo. that's a no-brainer. >> reporter: the campaign for safe cosmetics not using the word boycott. it is encouraging people to do the research, read labels and not buy products that contain chemicals that could be harmful to your health.

the complete report and johnson and johnson's full website on abc7news.com see it on tv tab. meteorologist nicco with the forecast. >> a lot of sun not breezy in our valleys fast winds in our mountains continue the fire threat. the buoys around ocean beach saying nine foot waves for the surfers. rain and cold weather on the way. we find out today whether dr. conrad murray will testify in his own defense over michael jackson's death. can you imagine facebook being anywhere other than silicon valley? where mark zuckerberg says facebook would be if he was starting the company today. @ @ 

this morning dr. murray the man many know as michael jackson's personal doctor says he will not testify in his own defense today. dr. murray did tell the judge this morning that he might take the stand monday. murray has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaugher in connection with jackson's june 2009 death. prosecutors claim he gave

jackson a lethal dose of propofol. defense argued jackson gave himself the fatal dose. if convicted murray could face up to four years in prison and the loss of his medical license. change in the weather coming. >> yes over the next couple of days, a big change. let's show what is going on. good morning. you can see behind us we have flags still in san francisco, as we go up to mount tamalpais the wind gusting 20 which isn't bad, beautiful picture as we around the bay area this morning. -- as we look around the bay area this morning. now looking back toward the port of observing hrapblt. the hills are gusting up to 26 miles per hour. mount hamilton 40 mount diablo 56. now you see why we have such a high fire danger outside.

find a cloud, try, maybe one around monterey otherwise clear with that land breeze scouring all the moisture away. you can see temperatures in the mid 60s to near 70° right now we have temperatures mainly in the mid to upper 60s around the monterey bay. i have to check that salinas temperature. sunny and warm today our first highlight with the high fire danger cool afternoons starting thursday. that coincides with our showers that begin thursday hang around friday and could return sunday. as far as today compared to average 76 san jose four degrees warmer than average livermore 77 is six oakland and san francisco 75, 74 this afternoon, seven degrees warmer than average. napa at 9 degrees warmer than average with a high of 80 today. the sun will set on this warm day at 6:11. there's the area of high pressure scooting north and

east and bringing dry, gusty winds humidity levels down around 10 to 20% some of our highest elevations especially north bayx-jv@rs mountains. thatss@e¤2÷ going 4íaú1 i+55u%uzx, winds slow down fire threat is over. up north you can see the next system working into oregon with wet weather by wednesday evening. by thursday, it is here. until then that red flag warning continue force the diablo range, east bay hills, north bay mountains until 6:00 tomorrow morning. gusts, humidity levels down around 10 to 20% that dry air wall at sun warms nicely especially with the calm conditions in our valleys. mid to up 70s in most neighborhoods, napa, santa rosa 80°. near 80 in gilroy.

monterey top out at about 72°. all the clouds well to our south, l.a., san diego 70 with the fog. 90 palm springs. low to mid 70s through the central valley breezy 47 with sun in tahoe. tonight as winds start to relax there's nothing to keep the atmosphere stirred so the cold air will sink down dry air light winds no cloud cover 40s for most of us tonight one of the colder nights we've had at least widespread, temperatures. tomorrow afternoon sunshine temperatures above average a lot like today but look at thursday that cold front comes down brings the showers and drops our temperatures nearly 10 to 15°. we stay in the 50s and low 60s through sunday. saturday night set your clocks back an hour batteries in your detectorses. >> he's on it. >> isn't he -- >> that extra hour sleep means

a lot. >> we are very happy about. >> and you deserve it too. >> thank you mike. san francisco state university researchers are bringing a new meaning to the term big bird. after studying 40 years the researchers have found that birds are growing. average wing span has grown and the mass is also growing, they are getting heavier. scientists say climate change may be the reason. scientists predicted global warming will make the birds smaller this data shows the relationship between animals and global warming is more complex than first thought. can you imagine facebook not being based in palo alto? mark zuckerberg can. during' vent at stanford he told the audience if he was starting facebook today he would stay in boston. instead, history being what it was, zuckerberg dropped out of hard ward where the face -- harvard where the facebook

idea originated and moved to silicon val little. he acknowledged his site wouldn't be where today with nearly a billion users worldwide without having silicon valley expertise and ♪ born to be wild [ female announcer ] is your medicare plan keeping up with you? ♪ since you've never been one to slow down, now through december 7th, you won't have to. it's faster and easier than ever to switch your medicare coverage to anthem blue cross. ♪ we've created medicare solutions that are just right for you. we have plans with low monthly premiums. plus youave the freedom to choose your own doctor

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today at 4:00. $1500 for a vacuum cleaner?

vacuums that perform just as well for a traction of the cost. >> does the water from your tap have a musty smell and taste funny? we'll tell if you it is a cause for concern in parts of the bay area. those stories at and 5:00. from all of us here at abc7 news thanks for joining us. >> who wants to be a millionaire is next. >> to keep track of the latest news on twitter and talk about @