closed captioning by closed captioning services,inc good morning i'm kristen sze. and i'm cheryl jennings. the california supreme court just released a grand breaking decision in the case involving prop 8. terry mcsweeney joins us in san francisco with the court's decision. >> reporter: it is a unanimous decision. the state supreme court ruling that sponsors of a ballot initiative do have legal standing to pursue the case further in court. in this case prop 8, which is now in federal court the 9th circuit asked for an opinion from the state supreme court. today they two it. look at pictures from outside the building, unusual scene considering prop 8 was on the docket today.

not many people out here just a few anti-8 protesters to let people know they care about this issue. someone who perhaps cares most is plaintiff chris perry. she had a positive reaction to this opinion. >> the appeal has taken a very longtime. again, they are giving this advisory ruling to the 9th circuit allows us to move forward which is all we wanted. >> reporter: other side of the coin comes from protectmarriage.com. they say we are delighted the supreme court has reaffirmed our right as the official proponents of prop 8 to defend over seven million californians who amended their constitution to restore traditional . this victory is an enormous boost for prop 8 as well as the integrity of the initiative process. joining me legal analyst dean johnson. this was an opinion requested by the 9th district court of appeals. what happens now? >> now this goes quickly back to the 9th circuit.

we are now sure there are parties who can defend this case. we are going to hear an opinion on the merits of prop 8 and same-sex marriage. i expect that opinion will be one striking down prop 8 and supporting same-sex marriage. probably a very narrow opinion, confined to the particular situation of the state of california. >> reporter: then on to the supreme court after the appeal. let me ask you this. this was not an opinion based on prop 8. it has to do with every initiative in california. >> no, this has nothing to do with prop 8. the supreme court was very clear about that in the first page in a nutshell they said this is a matter the integrity of the ballot possess. somebody has to be able to stand up and dead the ballot initiative in court. when public officials refuse to do it the people who started the ballot initiative are the only logical people to do so >> reporter: dean johnson thanks for that. more at 4, 5 and 6.

terry mcsweeney, abc7 news. other big story occupy wall street protester are calling for a day of action nationwide on this two month anniversary at the occupy movement. police were out in full force in new york city as thousands tried to bring business to a halt at the new york stock exchange. despite their efforts the trading day is continuing as usual. a stand off at nearby zuccotti park. protesters attempted to remove police barricades put up after police evicted the protesters if the park tuesday that was where the original movement started. police made dozens of arrests. >> in los angeles 500 people marched into downtown financial distick this morning. police arrested nearly two -- two dozen as they sat down in the middle of the street. in the bay area police removed occupy cal tents at the, c berkeley campus overnight.

>> arrests, no violence. -- that does not mean the end of the protest, they are vowing to return. >> reporter: it is clean now you can see the steps on sproul hall are not only clear they are wet bus they were power washed on the plaza five remain you notice without tents those numbers could grow at 5:00 they are calling for a rally at 6:00 they could decide about bringing back more tents ii the remaining occupy cal protesters -- rehashed details of the early morning raid of their camp. dozens of police officers in riot gear came to dismantle the camp then stood guard keeping protesters out. i was peaceful by all accounts. some -- it was pieceful by all accounts some didn't like what they saw -- >> they should have let it come to fruition.

and play out. >> reporter: the tents violate university policy. campers were given fair warning and option to leave with their personal belongings. the vast majority did. >> there were two demonstrators who openly expressed they were willing to be arrested for the operation for failure to comply with the dis al order that was done without resistance. -- >> reporter: one arrested a student, the other is not. cleaning up the place protesters call home seemed to be the bigger project. crucible dozed a tepee but allowed students to cross the police line to save two pianos. any tents left are lost, but more may be coming. >> i think this is a crucial time for the occupy movements. i think that one of the most important anyones that we can -- one of the most important things that we can say is you can keep bulldozing but you

can crush the idea. >> intent is now a speech act. every tent that goes goes up says this is grievances to is government. when they destroy that they are silencing that individual. >> reporter: uc pd says demonstrators are allowed to be on sproul hall just not with tents. they will continue to monitor the situation. katie marzullo, abc7 news. a san francisco bank of america wrap. targeted yesterday is open again. -- the brand. at california and davis streets open add hour and a half late once crews repaired damage. more than 100 rushed the branch around 2:00 yesterday afternoon, pitching a tent inside. police moved in a half hour later. it took more than three hours to arrest and process them. many protesters were uc berkeley students upset over fee hikes.

at noon today the faculty at california state east bay in hey -- hayward will rally at the main entrance of the campus on a one day strike protesting officials not giving them their promised raise. they say the csu's chancellor is giving more money to top managers ignoring the classrooms. >> good news about the economy. >> more people are finding jobs. the labor department says the number of people applying for employment benefits fell last week to the lowest level since early april. they say it is a sign lay-offs are easing and hiring may pick up. weekly applications dropped by 5,000 to 388,000. the fourth decline in five weeks. nobel prize winner the hot seat on capitol hill. this morning a republican-led committee gilled energy secretary chu over the motive of a massive federal loan to solyndra. the company is now bankrupt.

eric thomas is here with details. >> democrats were friendly the republicans, not so much in response dr. chu was ready to say the buck stops here, but not sorry about that. republicans on the energy subcommittee kept up the drum beat that at beast making the loan to solyndra was incompetent at worst political pay back for an obama supporter. >> receiving financial reports showing solyndra was bleeding cash going bankrupt. >> it is extremely unfortunate what has happened to solyndra if you go back and look at the time decisions being made, was there incompetence? was there any influence of a political nature? and i would have to say no. >> solyndra made solar panels even received a visit from the president as part of his green energy initiative. in september after receiving the 535 million dollar

government-backed loan the company declared bankruptcy. critics have charged that since a big obama campaign donor was an investor the white house must have played a role. chu says he, not the white house made all the key decisions. >> as secretary of energy the final decisions on solyndra were mine. and i made them with the best interests of the taxpayer in mind. >> chu goes further to say there were no political considerations in his decision he never did issue an poll an -- apology for what happened to solyndra neither side democrats or republicans expect taxpayers to recover much of that money. coming up next, americans are redefine wag it means to be old. we'll explain. how you can help these abandoned puppies discovered at asa lean recycling plant.

today congress is expected to kill fudging for the president's high speed rail program. the full house will vote today and the senate tomorrow. supporters say -- say they are confident some money will be found to keep the program running largely through transportation department grants. the biggest project on the table is the proposed california high speed rail linking northern and southern california. millbrae has approved a plan to dissolve its police department and outsource

patrols to the san mateo county sheriff's office. they passed that measure earlier this week in the hopes of saving more than a million dollars a year. san mateo sheriff's office is expected to offer fulltime jobs to all 21 of millbrae's fulltime officers and eight civilian employees. the sheriff's office has already taken over police operations for san carlos and half moon bay in the past year. spca offering a $500 reward for information leading to arrest and conviction of the person who abandoned six puppies. humane officers found the six australian shepard mix puppies abandoned at a plastic recycling plant in royal oaks. officials believe someone tossed the pups over the fence. the dogs are being nursed back to health after being found, hungry, dehydrated and flea invest we have -- infested. we have the spca's website on abc7news.com.

click on seen it on tv. weather changing a little. >> not frightful yet but getting darker the clouds are gathering. we are going to talk about chances of rain, four in the forecast. the weekend now is trending a little drier. that does include the big game. you could be getting money back with your next movie the refund coming for millions of netflix customers. and the curtain will fall on regis after more than 30 years what is next for regis? what he regrets, coming up next. 0ñ

tomorrow is regis' final appearance on his show. after 28 years. tonight you get a chance to walk down memory lane. katie couric is hosting a one hour 20/20 special hanging out in the bronx meet old friends and talk about his future. katie says the 80-year-old will stay busy with nightclub acts, writing books and relaxing. >> i asked if he had any regrets. one of the things he said is i hope i haven't worked too much so i haven't been able to enjoy my life. now is an opportunity for him to kickback and smell the roses. >> you can watch the special

edition tonight at 8 p.m. right here on abc 7. >> he deserves a little me time. >> another hardworking guy right here. >> lately, because we have four storms coming our way. they all promise the threat of rain not necessarily going to deliver all of them to all of us. a little complicated. in san jose good morning. rather cloudy. there's a little bit of sunshine out there you can see it northeast from south beach this morning. live doppler in crescent city now dry according to the radar nearly an inch of rain fell there. eureka half an inch. ukiah just a few drips. the bulk of this storm is falling up there. you can see the clouds temperatures in the 50s even mid 50s around santa rosa to low 60s around fairfield, concord, antioch and mountain view. 48 santa cruz everybody else

inland low to mid 50s with broken cloud cover leaving spotty sunshine. cooler conditions this afternoon light scattered showers mainly in the north bay. showers more likely tomorrow cooler than today, two more chances of wet weather in the self very -- in the seven day forecast. south bay low to mid 60s, three to eight degrees cooler than yesterday upper 50s low 60s on the peninsula, mid 50s along the coast to downtown upper 50s mid to upper 50s in the north bay most likely area to see showers this afternoon. upper 50s to near 60 east bay shore with low possibly a few mid 60s in the east bay valleys. upper 50s monterey and carmel the rest of the monterey bay inland low to mid 60s. there you go five degrees cooler in san francisco to 10 in san rafael, 11 in santa rosa. tonight a few lingering showers mainly in the 40s maybe upper 30s around clear

lake and santa rosa 50 around morgan hill. cold front well detached if the low which is usually the center of the storm. behind it, a lot of coldness that cold air is a little unselled, creates showers. 12:0 -- unsettled, creates showers. 12:00 showers moving into the bay area a spew sprinkles for the evening overnight a -- few more sprinkles tomorrow's morning commute quiet. midday tomorrow a more robust area of showers will develop and hang around through about 7:00. tomorrow evening a tapering of showers through saturday morning. watch this, a few showers up in the north bay saturday afternoon then the bulk of this next system hangs out over the ocean saturday night into sunday morning. that's why i think we won't see as much rain and i thought, snow up in the sierra starting 4:00 tomorrow morning to 7:00 tomorrow evening watch out

after the sunsets up there it is going to get icy and dicey you will need the chains. light rain saturday night into sunday next chance of rain wednesday between then temperatures in the 50s friday, saturday, sunday >> thanks mike. skype and facebook have expanded their partnership today by allowing users of skype to replace and receive video calls to their facebook friends for free. new software includes that feature today for macs and pcs after the two giants struck a deal in july allowing webcams to make skype calls on their social networking site. facebook has more than 800 million users. if you are or were a netflix customer you may have money coming. wal-mart is paying the 27 1/2 million dollars to settle allegations it was in cahoots

with netflix to inflate prices on big and renting dvdae. wal-mart not acknowledging -- wrongdoing and will pay in cash or wal-mart gift cards. customers should have received e-mails this week. record number of americans reaching the ripe old age of 90. new census figures show it is nearly tripled in size since 1980 to nearly two million. s say the longer life trend -- experts say the longer life trends sets new -- rising government costs for the strained medicare and social security programs. analysts contribute increws to better nutrition and advances in medical care. no matter how old you are, we are all looking forward to the weekend. @

in the market for a car? the one day of the year you can find the best deal and you still have time to get in on it that story and more today at 4 and 5. from a hip-hop dancefest to the siberian orchestra don sanchez has what's hot. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> reporter: dance theater and music come together in the tony award winning fala.

the edge introduce new group san francisco music club. exciting dancers saturday at 1:42. ♪ ♪ hip-hop dancefest raising the bar with a showcase of international artists palace of fine arts theater. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> transsiberian orchestra holiday scene sunday afternoon at hp ville beyond. -- pavillion. ♪ ♪ the rhythm of the salsa congress learn to dance with world class best. oakland city center.

see what is new at the 54th annual san francisco international auto show in mosconey center. >> diablo ballet 13th season. don sanchez, abc7 news. >> so much to do. for all of us here thanks for joining us. >> who wants to be a millionaire next.