closed captioning by closed captioning services,inc good morning i'm cheryl jennings. and i'm kristen sze. officials are investigating a mystery illness and st. ignatius prep. it is closed as they try to find out what made students sick. >> reporter: base on symptom and suddenness public health feels it is certain it is gastroenteritis, what we call stomach flu impacting the students. officials are saying the number is well over 200 and six teachers are laid you. still they plan to reopen tomorrow.

karen is the principal's secretary at st. ignatius college prep. she didn't get word the campus is closed today. >> i thought i was going to work. i'm not sick. >> reporter: that puts her in the shrinking number of students and staff not streufrpb with gastroenteritis -- racing from one student to another on campus yesterday. >> it was intense kids were fainting. they were getting sick immediately it was like no warning. the dean's office was going crazy with phone calls and kids lined up waiting to be picked up by their parents. >> i came out of class there were 20 students in front of the dean's office with trash cans i saw kids throwing up. >> reporter: the school decided a thorough cleanup could not be completed overnight so it is a day off. >> people were throwing up everywhere. coughing everywhere.

>> reporter: the stomach flu was spread when people don't wash hands after using the restroom then spreads rapidly from one person to another. symptoms include fever, diarrhea and vomiting. >> my husband told me wash your hands. >> reporter: the public health department advises those stricken stay home 72 hours after you last experienced the symptom that would mean a greatly deduceed body here for days to come. the principal tells me that school officials are going to be meeting with public health officials any minute now. he feels certain the cleaning is going to make all the difference and this school will be open for business tomorrow. terry mcsweeney, abc7 news. it appears a bug is going around sonoma county, an unusual number of students at two santa rosa schools have been going home with complaints of upset stumps.

officials believe the norovirus may have -- struck last. the county health department has not officially confirmed norovirus but says it matches the symptoms. five additional alleged victims have come forward this morning in the molestation case against a los angeles schoolteacher investigators now say 61-year-old÷ewáui @@hcis with 28 boys and girls as young as 6-years-old. berndt was fired where he taught for 30 years. he was in court today and could face life in prison. berndt's bail is 23 million dollars. the district attorney's office says an earlier typo indicated it was just 2.3 million. investigators learned the crimes after a film processor found berndt's bondage photos. police are looking into a new lead in the kidnapping of mick carla garrett, 23 --

mikayla garretth+ó 23-years-old. a sacramento tv reports a possible connection between mikayla's disappearance and two men convicted of four murders in the central valley in 2001. police say a letter written by an inmate references mikayla's case. the inmate blamed his partner in crime for the kidnapping. offered to lead investigators to several more bodies he buried. new information on a teenager who died during a sleepover last summer. the coroner says 14-year-old overdosed on so-called date rape drug consumed in a beverage. investigators thought the teen might have died from alcohol poisoning after drinking vodka with friends. all the girls threw up that night, but she never woke up. they are trying to determine if she took it knowingly and how the group got it.

assemblyman lashed at the public utilities commission and pg&e today over major issues in the wake of the san bruno explosion in 2010. assemblyman jerry hill is accusing pg&e of trying to profit from that deadly explosion. amy hollyfield joins us outside the hearing in san francisco. >> reporter: are you going to end up paying for pg&e's mistakes while pg&e profits? that's number one. number two are concerns that the lead investigator can't be objective. both issues make assembly member jerry hill very angry. >> i asked that you step aside in matter. by refusing to do so you would be sustaining a culture of complacency that you have pledged to end. >> reporter: hill spoke quickly and sternly at this morning's public utilities commission meeting. he had a lot to say and only one minute. his target was puc president who appointed himself to lead the investigation into what pg&e should be fined for the

san bruno tragedy. >> i find it offensive someone so responsible for the culture has taken it upon himself to lead the direction of this proceeding. >> reporter: yesterday he answered criticism by saying the commissioner would be working closely with him on the investigation. hill t a smoke screen and was backed by san bruno's mayor. >> we want the cpuc to know that citizens are watching closely and with great concern. >> reporter: he was the only topic they covered in the meeting outside an advocacy group addressed the cost of upgrading the system. according to their analysis it is going to cost twice as much as pg&e projected. rate payers and insurance are expected to cover most of the cost. >> which means pg&e could profit from the devastating events in san bruno. >> we are here do what the puc and leadership president refused to do, stand up for consumers and stand up to pg&e.

>> reporter: i talked to pg&e the spokesman said he needed more time to go over hill's numbers before he could comment on the specific concerns. as for pivey, he didn't say anything after hill made his statement. hill told us he was surprised, but he hopes that means that pivey was listening and thing about what he said. amy hollyfield, abc7 news. this morning the california public utilities commission is expected to give pg&e customers the choice of opting out of having a smart meter and keeping analog meter. customers who choose to opt-out would be required to pay a $75 fee and monthly $10. low income customers would pay less. pg&e says the fees are necessary for maintaining the meters and paying works -- workers to read them. oakland mayor quan just

appointed two new keefes today, one is making history. -- two new chiefs today one is making history. one is the first african-american fire chief. she has been serving as assistant fire chief. the mayor named interim chief jordan as the permanent chief. laura anthony will have the full story today at 4:00. facebook is expected to file documents with government regulators today to sell shares of the company on the open market. it is expected to be a five billion dollar initial stock offering. the menlo park company has more than 800 million users worldwide and makes most money through advertising. since the company is privately owned it hasn't had to release financial records so no one knows how much the stock will be worth on the open market. experts agree it will be one of the biggest ipo's in u.s. history. >> the preipo price for

facebook based on private trading market is somewhere in the 80 billion to 100 billion dollar range. these are numbers that you just don't see. we are in unchartered territory here. >> facebook will not have to release financial statements until the company starts trading. that usually does not happen until months after a company's first ipo filing. president obama says congress needs to take action to health millions facing foreclosure. he wants to make it easier for millions to refinance mortgages at lower interest rates even if they owe more than their homes are worth. president obama says america's middle class is facing a make or break moment. >> the president: this housing crisis struck at the heart of what it means to be middle class in america. our homes. the place where we invest our nest egg. the place where we raise our families. the place where we plant roots in a community.

>> president obama's proposal would give homeowners with privately held mortgages a shot at record low rates saving the average borrower $3,000 a year the program would cost between five and 10 billion dollars paid for with a fee on large banks. mitt romney riding high after impressive victory in florida. but the republican presidential candidate who is a multi-millionaire is raising eyebrows with the comments he made today about the poorest of americans during a cnn interview. >> i'm in this case because i care about americans. i'm not concerned about the very poor, we have a safety net there if it needs repair, i'll fix it. i'm not concern about the very rich, they are doing fine. i'm concerned about the heart of america the 90, 95% who right now are struggling. i'll continue to take that message across the nation. >> newt gingrich is vowing to stay in the race despite yesterday's convincing loss. without strong organizations

in place in the upcoming states, nevada and maine are holding caucuses saturday. minnesota and colorado hold their contests next tuesday. next, important warning for every woman taking birth control. major drugmaker recalling millions of pills that may not prevent pregnancy. music pioneer don carneal has died. remembering the man who

i'm don cornelius as always in parting we wish you love, peace and soul! >> oh yeah the creator of a long running tv dance show called "soul train" died this morning. police say cornelius apparently shot himself at his home. he had been battling health problems. he helped to break down racial barriers. he broadened the reach of african-american culture with music, dance and style. soul train began in 1970. it aired from 1971 to 2006. gladys knight performed on the show's pilot episode. >> was a pioneer like you would not believe. he is an unsung hero. means so much to me. he really did. >> so many of us enjoyed that program so much.

music producer quincy jones also calls cornelius a pioneer. he said before mtv, there was soul train. pfizer is recalling one million packs of birth control pills after uncovering a packaging error that could lead to accidental pregnancies. the packets have expiration dates between july 31st, 2013 and march 31st, 2014. a company spokeswoman says the problem has been corrected but if you have the packages pfizer advising women to start using another form of contraception, immediately. >> state department of water resources conning its second snow survey of the year right now. like the first manual survey january 3rd, at echo summit the water content measurement

is expected to be small 19% of normal then. the latest readings indicate water content is now just 38% of normal. obviously we need a lot more rain and snow. we got a little light rain this morning the proverbial drop in the bucket. >> light snow up there also we are halfway through winter usually by this time if we haven't made it to a certain stage, we are not going to get there. you can see clouds starting to part. warming trend that may push us near 70 over the weekend. also, a dramatic rescue caught on video. the public servants who risked their lives to pull a driver from this burning car. save money at a major retailer while saving lives. the discount going on now to raise awareness about a deadly disease targeting women. i work at the cable company, and i get to wear a hard hat...

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get out of car! get out of the car! >> two police officers in new jersey yelling to a driver in that burping car. this is dashcam video from the -- that burning car this is dashcam video from the police cruiser. they didn't get a response so they braved the flames and pulled him to safety. he suffered smoke inhalation but was not burned thanks to those courageous officers. we are going to check out our weather now. the rain is out of here but we still have the clouds. clouds slowly breaking it is noon.

they are breaking up we'll have fog tonight. tomorrow's morning commute could be interesting again. up north a couple inches of snow or northeast i guess couple inches of snow fell around tahoe you can see clouds breaking here makes for a beautiful picture we don't see brown even though the snow survey will be underwhelming it is at least nice to see this compared to a couple of weeks ago. 39° at lake level in tahoe. san jose drier mostly cloudy one of the last areas to see sunshine as we will clear from north to south. let's look at live doppler you can see the radar returns starting to diminish. flip over to the visible satellite there's our clearing from north to south. looks like the santa clara valley and monterey bay will be the last to see sun. north bay the first you can see some of it there. temperatures homogenizeed low to mid 50s monterey bay -- mid to upper 50s as you head

inland. partly cloudy by late this afternoon, without the clouds it will be cooler moisture on the ground is going to turn into fog for the morning commute. once we get past this, starting tomorrow, groundhog day, all the way through the weekend, our afternoons will be full of sun warmer than average. february, warming month everywhere santa rosa and redwood city average high warms three degrees from the beginning to the end, two in oakland and san francisco, biggest jump san jose livermore four degrees warmer by the end of the month we gain almost an hour of daylight from now local the -- now until the 29th. today upper 50s around san rafael, richmond, san francisco, san mateo, half moon bay clear lake everybody else low 60s. monterey bay upper 50s. around the state, see how quiet this afternoon scattered shower possible along the spine of the sierra.

low 60s through the central valley low to mid 60s san diego and los angeles, 75 with sun palm springs. tonight clouds and fog take over we will be cool we are mid 30s to low 40s inland. low to mid 40s around the bay shore to the coast. san francisco the mild spot, 47°. cold front in the low that brought us a couple hundreds of an inch of rain this morning moving away, high pressure developing next system push well up to the north we may get a few high clouds that's about it. it is going to be very bright the next couple of afternoons. groundhog day temperatures two to five degrees warmer than today. we keep warming up to the mid 60s along the coast mid to upper 60s around the bay and inland through the weekend a slight cooling trend monday and tuesday as a storm system draws near right now. friday the american heart association is urging everyone

to wear red to raise awareness of heart disease which kills more women each year than all forms of cancer combined. macy's saving a 20% discount to shoppers wearing red between today and sunday. if you shop online you can use the promo code red. if you go to a store without red you can buy a special pin for $2 and the american heart association gets a donation. >> easy to do. we'll

today at 3:00, prefatal vitamins are they more hype and help? >> big bonuses for thousands of bus drivers how the owner managed to give out checks for up to $100,000. >> will facebook deliver an ipo surprise? speculation they will offer users a chance to buy a piece of the company. those stories and more later today at 4:00 and 5:00. new survey offering disturbing proof that many of us don't want to be without our smartphones even for a minute. >> a study finds 3/4 of us admit we bring our mobile devices with us when we go to the bathroom. what are we using them for? >> 3/4 of those surveyed said tweeting or texting. >> half admitted they are calling friends over business associates. >> 40% say they surf the web or shop. the -- hope everyone is washing their hands really

well. >> yeah, clean those phones, a lot. for all of us here, thanks for joining us today. >> who wants to be a millionaire is next. >> keep track of the latest news on twitter. you can talk about the stories at facebook.com/abc7news. at facebook.com/abc7news. >> have a great day. closed captioning by closed captioning services,inc

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