closed captioning by closed captioning services,inc >> we are union! mighty mighty union! more than 20,000 hospital workers are walking picket lines now. good morning i'm cheryl jennings. and i'm kristen sze. amy hollyfield is live at kaiser oakland with the dispute and patient impact. >> reporter: the hospital is still open they brought in replacement workers. here are some of the workers who decided to strike today. administrators tell us 30 to 40% of the nursed the picket line tan did go to work. the -- line and did go to

work. >> we are the union! mighty mighty union! >> reporter: it is their fourth strike since 2010. the national union of health care workers feels the strikes are having an impact on kaiser executives. >> we feel like kaiser is getting the message that they've trade somewhat far away from their core values. >> reporter: union members feel successful because they have the support of the strong nurses union replacing the nurses hit kaiser's bottom line. the last strike cost 14 million dollars. >> it is a significant cost to do this for a one-day strike. we are not happy. >> reporter: mental health and optical employees are fighting for wages and benefits and better patient care.

kaiser executives say patient care is adequate and within the law and their offer is fair and reasonable. >> many of our patients, especially routine patients wait for long periods of time on wait-lists. >> we are the only four star plan in mental health in california this is a wages and pen fits issue >> reporter: called in the -- caught in the miding. the patients. >> they feel uncomfortable, self-conscious, like i said, i do support unions. but i've been waiting for this appointment since they didn't cancel i decided to come through. >> reporter: a labor economist says the number of strikes seems to be going up. during these times she says a lot is at stake. >> there's research that suggests when a union has the most importance is when there is a sense tha the economy is weak and that wages really could be lost because of a pad economic environment.

that's what we have going on right now. >> reporter: this is going to be a one-day strike. the hospital has no plans to lock employees out. employees say they will be back at work tomorrow. both come back to the negotiating table the end of february. amy hollyfield, abc7 news. prosecutors are expected adult when he goes court this afternoon to face charges he murdered his adopted patients. they were -- adopted parents. they were both well respected in san francisco police went to the home twice after they didn't show up for work during the second visit they found the couple's bed in a car. the boy has confessed -- the neighbors say the couple had been arguing with their son for spending too much time involved in occupy oakland. the san jose student

charged with four counts of burglary for entering dorms. police arrested escobar last friday following early morning attacks at joe west hall. in los angeles investigators will hold a news conference within the hour to discuss a horrific sex crime investigation against an elementary schoolteacher accused of molesting nearly two dozen children. deputies arrested him yesterday after a year long investigation. they say he bound and gagged several children, put cockroaches on their faces and posed in photos with them. he's charged with committing lewd acts with 23 young boys and girls between 2008 and 2010. he worked at the school more than 30 years. prosecutors alleged that sheriff mirkarimi isolated his wife for more than 18 hours to prevent her from reporting what happened during a new year's eve fight.

the video reportedly shows mirkarimi's wife eliana lopez showing her bruised arm and talking about how she escaped if the home when her husband went to take a shower. mirkarimi's attorney says the claims are absurd. lopez denies her husband did anything wrong. mirkarimi's trial is scheduled for next month. milpitas officials considering criminal charges against a construction company after a hayward man was buried alive at one of their construction sites. the coroner's office says the carpenter died sat dave an avalanche of soil crushed him -- his body was pull out late last night he was working in a 12 foot deep trench when it collapsed. city officials say nobody should have been working because the project was shutdown for safety last wednesday because the trenches

weren't shored up and it was unsafe for work. >> walnut creek restaurant owners dealing with a problem they would not expect in that community trying to stop fights. terry mcsweeney joins us from walnut creek with the story. >> reporter: more than a dozen bar owners from downtown walnut creek just wrapped up a meeting. they came out enthused, excited. they say they will be talking to the city council, working with police to do whatever needs to be done to get things under control dn here. a new prs is video from 2010, showing a brawl down here in downtown a lot like it has looked many weekends, friday and saturday nights after way too much drinking this past weekend three brawls saturday night, nine arrested. city officials say late night bars are over-serving

customers they should be forced to close early. bar owners saying if anyone wants to keep walnut creek's stellar reputation, it is us. >> the night life is a big draw to the city and we don't want that to go away and we want it to be safe. we feel pulling together as a group we can facilitate doing a better job and working with the police to find out where the problems are and how we can better solve them. >> reporter: the council hopes to have a new law by march. one plan calls for adding two police officers to the force and their job would be to deal with downtown walnut creek. regardless of what happens with that, police say they are stepping up patrols starting this coming weekend. it going to look different and maybe far different as time goes by. terry mcsweeney, abc7 news. republicans are predicting a big turnout of more than two

million voters for today's gop primary in florida. republican governor rick scott voted in tallahassee today but did not endorse a candidate. polls show mitt romney is the clear front-runner state he and his supporters spent 14 million dollars on tv ads attacking newt gingrich. romney pulled back last night, breaking into song instead. >> america, america, god shed his grace on thee! >> gingrich today dismissed suggestions that he could be hobbled by a big loss in florida. telling report there's the race wouldn't be decided until june or july. comedian stephen coll period of time's presidential aspirations may not be -- colbert's presidential aspirations may not be serious but his pac has raised more than a million dollars even

gavin newsom donate $500. colbert has been using his show to make a serious point about super fundraising organizations. man the republican candidates want to replace president obama is calling for congress to act quickly on bipartisan tax legislation. the president says lawmakers need to immediately pass a bill that would extend tax breaks for smart businesses. mr. obama says the legislation will create a new extension of a current law allowing all businesses to immediately deduct all equipment and new survey shows home prices have fallen for a third month in all cities nationwide. the index says nationwide prices dropped nearly 4% in november compared to a year ago. phoenix was the only city ha showed an increase in san francisco prices fell almost 5 1/2%.

experts say the decline shows most homeowners are not taking advantage of the small benefits of an improving housing market. still ahead, bad news if you filed taxes early. >> new feature coming to san francisco's waterfront. >> reporter: i'm katie marzullo live at the site of that future feature. it is pier 27 mayor lee and excited group were here earlier to break ground.

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columbus salami company ordered to pay six million dollars in upgrades after a review of an ammonia leak at the plant that leak in august of 2009 sent 17 to the hospital it forced police to evacuate nearby businesses and close several streets. the ammonia leaked from a ruptured valve in the system that cools salami. new feature failing -- new state-of-the-art cruise terminal. katie marzullo is live to show us the planned transformation. >> reporter: we are on the back end of pier 27. not many people have cause or desire to come back here nothing to see, nothing to do. that is going to change. moments ago mayor lee broke ground on the future james r

herman international cruise terminal. mayor lee says this is a long awaited project. it was mayor newsom in 2007 who created a panel to look into this. it is going to create 600 jobs, 20% expected to be local. a 92 million dollar project. that not only will be a cruise terminal but also a public plaza. the mayor hopes it will revitalize the port and invigorate the waterfront. >> this is a world class international event we are hosting. it is also important legacies we are establishing with the cruise ship terminal and the open plaza 2 1/2 acres more of open space that will be publicly accessible as another part of this important legacy. iñ the international event that the mayor referenced is the america's cup. this cruise terminal goes

hand-in-hand with that. it won't be completely done for all the races some it will be done sort of like an olympic village for the race. the race does not come without controversy. environmental groups have been against not only the america's cup but the cruise terminal saying the environmental impact report was rushed. the mayor did address that. he called it a long process and seemed very excited this was physically moving forward. katie marzullo, abc7 news. it looked bright although hazy behind us. >> sun breaking through between our systems now. we'll try to get sfo back up they are still having flight arrival delays. clouds to the west from emeryville this morning could mean a small chance of rain tonight and tomorrow. listen up, this is a story that all your co-workers and

friends will be talking about. you can get anything super-sized at costco, the super ticket item is sealing -- selling for $3,000. wikileaks founder julian assange is about to become numbers with one of america's most dysfunctional families. we'll explain. ?ipp

costco is selling tickets to the super bowl on its website. you don't have to buy in bulk even one ticket is going to put a dent in your wallet upper level end zone see the just under $3,000. two seats right around $10,000. the last day to order february 3rd. >> you are right, good thing you don't have to buy in bulk at those prices. >> if you are planning a super bowl party you want to book ahead. >> looks like it will be nice this weekend hard to stay in for three, four hours it does happen as the sun is setting. one more disturbance to talk about. it is going to bring a slight chance of rain tonight. not a world beater just a slight chance nuisance rain tomorrow right now fog and low clouds lift the low angle of

the sun it has taken a while as you look it already has in the east bay valleys quite an inversion trapping a lot of the pollution below that 3800 level which is the top of mount diablo. from the top down 25,000 feet, tule fog in the central valley clouds coming in mid and high levels will keep us mainly cloudy during the afternoon an peeks of sun clouds still dominate most of news the low to mid 50s. cooler half moon bay mid to upper 40s there. no sunshine, warmer around monterey bay upper 50s into salinas, 54 now in gilroy. afternoon mostly cloudy, slightly cool we are the wind off the ocean the same wind that put moisture in the air that brought drizzle this morning. light rain possible tonight into tomorrow last in the wave of storms dry and warmer thursday to sunday.

today, compared to average, three degrees warmer livermore 60 napa and san jose 60 and 61 where you should be one to degrees around oakland, redwood city and san francisco. take a look at this afternoon, upper 50s to low 60s stretching from 57 richmond, san francisco and half moon bay to ukiah, cloverdale, fairfield antioch and san jose 61. monterey bay 59, the rest of the neighborhoods even inland will hit low to mid 60s with more sun. around the state quiet, 48 in tahoe, try to stop the record heat they had another record high yesterday 52. the warmest in the state 73 in palm springs. tonight radar returns healthy looking the amounts of raindropping very, very light low to mid 40s inland mid to upper 40s bay shore and to the coast two areas of high pressure split by the jet stream now, unfortunate we had

the jet stream coming at us these waves are so weak this one with a lot of cloud cover not the dynamics the energy needed to lift these clouds and ring out all the moist -- moisture. clouds taking over mid and upper levels during the afternoon light rain after midnight in the north bay where it stays through the morning commute scattered rain through noon then that's it, we'll see clearing tomorrow afternoon as winds shift offshore that takes away the clouds look at how much warmer mid to upper 60s for groundhog day through saturday slightly cooler sunday, monday low to mid 60s this time of the year, not too bad. today the federal government gave its first ever approval to a drug that treats the root cause of cystic fibrosis. 30,000 americans live with the disease that often kills children and young adults. the drug will help 4,000

patients who suffer from a rare form. that affects how their bodies deal with protein. studies show the drug improved lung function and reduced other symptoms. early tax filers will have to wait longer for refunds. irs says some returnses are being delayed a week because of new safeguards to prevent refund fraud the delay only affects taxpayers whose returns were filed before last thursday. the founder of wikileaks set to play himself in an episode of the simpsons. julian assange will play a neighbor of the family after they move out of the area he recorded his lines from britain because he's under house arrest while appeals his extradition to sweden to face sexual assault charges. he became wanted in 2010 when wikileaks published thousands of diplomatic cables that embarrassed the united states

the oscars are less than a month away. for the all the buzz go to oscar.com. the show will be sun february 26th, right here. today at 3:00, the reason behind a school ban on ugg boots. then at 4:00, what is your excuse? michael finney finds the most

common reasons people skip dental check-ups. at 5, new study unveils why many children may wet the bed at night. those stories and more later today. meantime, that's it for now. >> thanks for joining us. who wants to be a millionaire is next.

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