a plea for san francisco's sheriff who was about to go to trial on domestic violence charges. ross mirkarimi is pleading guilty to a lesser charge of false imprisonment. i'm cheryl jennings. >> and i'm kristen sze what this plea deal means. >> reporter: this came about as they were starting jury selection in the domestic violence case. sheriff ross mirkarimi has to come back to the hall of justice two more times one to be sentenced monday in the plea and another to ask a judge to lift the stay away order that keeps him from his family. but the criminal case is over. mirkarimi left court after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor count of false imprisonment, involving his wife eliana lopez. cy charged with domestic violence, battery and child endangerment, after a confrontation on new year's with his wife. those charges about drop as part of the plea. mirkarimi faces a sentence of three years probation, 100

hours of community service, 52 weeks of domestic abuse and family counseling and he has to apologize to the court. >> this plea allows us to move forward, as i have i tend to return to the business of running one of the finest sheriff's department in this nation: of mending my family and raising my son in a safe and happy home. >> we are pleased with the outcome. the district attorney's office thanks all the witnesses that were courageous and willing to step forward. we wish the victim and her family some closure. >> reporter: in court, mirkarimi apologized to his neighbor ivory madison who took picture of his wife's bruises who was going to be a star witness for the prosecution. he said that i regret these proceedings may have caused ivory madison and her family suffering and may have damaged her reputation. as far as what the city may do

next? we caught up with mayor ed lee. he did tell us he's not sure if the case rises to the level of official misconduct but he says he will be reviewing with it the city attorney and ethics commission. sentencing set for monday. it appears at this point that ross mirkarimi will keep his ability to carry a gun and his job because this is a misdemeanor case not a domestic violence conviction. more reaction coming up later on. eric thomas, abc7 news. our legal analyst dean johnson joins us from the newsroom with more analysis. dean, is this an unusual plea? any hint of favoritism? >> not at all the only thing that is striking is how typical the resolution is. going to trial is rolling the dice and getting a conviction for a domestic violence charge could have a lot of consequences. the most prominent for a law enforcement officer is that you can't carry a gun under

state and federal law. a plea to some lesser charge like false imprisonment becomes very attractive deal and it is not surprising it happened monday before jury selection and before all bets were off the take. >> dean, when will he be able to see his wife and son how will this effect a custody battle later on? >> stay away order in effect until monday. family court is different from criminal court there the issue is the interest of the child from what we are told the child wants to see his mommy and daddy. another law enforcement official is under fire from his own department as well as the public. berkeley police chief michael meehan sent a sergeant to the house of a reporter in the middle of the night to request changes to a story. amy hollyfield joins us with more itch >> reporter: the -- the list of the chief's critics getting

longer no one here at the police department or city hall is addressing it. the chief may be losing the confidence of his rank and file. the police union has released a statement: "we stand with our community and share in their concerns about the appear rapbts and correctness of the chief's orders and are gravely concerned about the impact his actions will have on our ability to maintain the vital trust of the community we serve." the chief didn't like the news conference of a thursday night meeting. in an online article the reporter wrote that meehan apologized for the police department's slow response to a call from the berkeley hills and that call ended in murder. the chief said he apologized about how he communicated with the public not about the police response. he sent his sergeant to the reporter's home at 12:45 in the morning and demanded the article be changed. he now says that was wrong. >> was completely an error in

judgment. i know better this is nothing doug had done, doug has been responsive and reasonable. >> reporter: the union is concerned. a councilmember is paying attention to this and wants to talk to the city manager about the incident. critics are calling this censorship by intimidation. we call the mayor several times this morning, he has not returned our calls. we reached out to the police chief, we have not heard back from him or the councilmember. no comment from city hall or the police department this morning. people are beginning to question the chief's ability to manage this department. amy hollyfield, abc7 news. south bay transportation political and business leaders are armed with 100 million dollars the first installment in a massive federal grant that will put construction of bart to san jose on track. sue thompson is live at city hall. a celebration this morning.

>> reporter: yeah, good morning this is quite a celebration, quite a ceremony inside this is big news and big money for santa clara valley transportation authority. today from the federal government it will receive one chunk of a 900 million dollar grant that will go to expand a lot of bart in the south bay. [ applause ] >> reporter: in san jose today, celebration, as big federal money rolls in to give bart commuters more options to meet the growing increase of riders. >> we are looking at a tremendous growth in population and jobs in the next 30, 40 years. to get in project done now is crucial. >> reporter: the plan is a 10 mile extension from fremont to berryessa, the cost 2.3 billion. today the federal government promised 900 million to the project. the state will pitch in 250 million and the rest will come

from santa clara county residents, that voted for two sales tax increases. the feds say, that community support was key to the money. >> those that can tell to the plate and put skin in the game and turns up local dollars to help leverage the federal investment and really become true partners goes a long, long way. >> reporter: a concept video shows what the new barry -- berryessa station may look like, construction starts next month and will bring many jobs. >> going to provide thousands of jobs not only in construction but thousands of jobs that support the construction industry. >> reporter: the congressman lobbied more than a decade to get this grand. he says today a transportation dream is about to become a reality. -- >> i think the people have to feel good that their faith in what they wand to see here is coming to fruition. >> reporter: set for next

month vta says we could see one of those two new stations up and running and ready for commuters by 2014. sue thompson, abc7 news. major announcement today by the city of san bruno and pg&e. just a short time ago the two sides announced the utility has agreed to pay san bruno 70 million dollars in restitution to support recovery efforts from the 2010 pipeline tragedy. pg&e will pay that money in the next 30 days. the city will establish a not for profit entity to manage the funds and determine how the money should be . eight people were killed and 38 homes were destroyed in that explosion and fire. -- in oakland a 13-year-old girl is among three victims recovering from injuries. the most recent violence happened 1:30 this morning in the 2200 block of east 12th street. the girl is expected to be

okay. police don't believe the girl was the intended target. earlier shooting happened 11 last night at an apartment on high street one was shot outside the other man may have been inside. they are also expected to recover. police have no suspects and don't believe the two shootings are linked. we hear we are going to have winter finally, the rain is coming. storms expected to hit the bay area this week bringing much needed rain. >> and snow too. meteorologist mike nicco with more on the storm system. we focus in on our rain then the snow and big weather in about 10 minutes. the first of the series of systems will be rolling through right now the low spinning off the pacific northwest trailing cold front coming through and push that semipermanent high pressure that has brought such a dry winter when it comes through you can see rain starting to develop ahead of it moist south to southwesterly flow right now it is a mild flow

that's why we are seeing a lot of rain and mountain snow. what we are going to see by the time it gets here, take the system seriously up to five inches if north bay mountains two to three north bay one to two around the bay. i'll give you a timetable in a minute. still ahead, the bay area city about to roll out a new free wifi network. gas prices pump up, ironic use of the word to one of the highest levels in decades. an american soldier accused of a killing spree that ended the lives of 16 civilians in afghanistan. the new threat to u.s. troops

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white house says killings of afghan civilians will not affect the timetable of u.s. troop drawls. president obama called president karzai as soon as he learned about the tragic shootings. >> reporter: images are heartbreaking. children shot dead. men losing entire families in mourning. they killed a child said this mother. was this child part of the taliban? the man who officials say did it? an american soldier. a father himself. a husband, a 38-year-old staff

sergeant who sneaked off base and went house-to-house gunning down anyone inside. >> we just don't know what motivated this individual. >> reporter: the staff sergeant is based in fort lewis, washington deployed three times to iraq. this was his first to afghanistan. days ago we were with general allen in southern afghanistan who was urging calm after six american service members were gunned down in response to the inadvertent burning of qur'ans. >> moments like these when you feel as though there is no trust or confidence that you down inside. you understand this is the time for professionalism this is not the time for revenge. >> reporter: now allen is promising a rapid and thorough investigation. afghanistan's president hamid karzai is calling it an assassination that cannot be forgiven. the pentagon is looking into the soldier's mental health

history. he's believed to have seen a lot of combat during his years in iraq and they are checking closely to see if he had been treated for post-traumatic stress. abc news, washington. gas prices continue their march toward $5 a gallon causing a record number of people to take public transit. american transit an soaks says americans took more than 10 billion trips on -- mass transit last year the second most since 1957. the most popular year 2008. meantime, gas prices in california are up slightly again. average price for regular is $4.36. up about two cents from a week ago. diesel sell prices $4.52. san jose $4.34. oakland $4.38. san francisco $4.41. meteorologist mike nicco ahead with the forecast. week's worth of winter we

are going to cram a winter into a week is the way i should have said it, a lot coming our way quiet now. timetable for that rain and the feet of snow that will fall in the sierra. richard nixon's love letters. the softer and more romantic side of the ex-president

new released love letters reveal a softer side to president nixon. he wrote those letters to his future wife pat when they were dating. in one he says: "everyday and every night i want to see you and be with you yet i have no feeling of selfish ownership or jealousy." the letters will be unveiled friday at the nixon presidential library as part of an exhibition celebrating the 100th birthday of former first lady. >> fascinating. >> i wonder if those were 140 characters or less? >> no twittering. >> no tweeting. >> bad joke, sorry. >> you have a lot of work coming up. >> people have to have a lot of patience and be prepared for what has been an easy winter so far is not going to be soon. 11:20 good morning. some of the clouds, moisture returning ahead of our cold front well north today will be

our only dry day in the seven day forecast. nice vertical development there that cumulus cloud over san francisco as we look west from emeryville this morning. from the top down scattered clouds, partly sunny today. if you are leaving the house now in san rafael 43, upper 40s santa rosa and oakland everybody else in the low to mid 50s. monterey bay more cloud cover temperatures in the low to mid 50s inland gilroy 49°. let's talk about what is going to happen. three of many subsets of highlights. partly sunny today, last dry day heaviest rain likely wednesday when we could see some of the flooding. cold, wet weekend where we could have snow here. today compared to average sliding backwards u.s. if four degrees cooler than average. sun sets 7:15.

mid 50s along the coast upper san mateo, san francisco, richmond ukiah, cloverdale and clear lake everybody else in the low to mid 60s warmer monterey bay breezier over the ocean 57 monterey everybody else in the low 60s inland low to mid 60s around the state, the rain stays up around eureka 53. 78 palm springs. tonight clouds roll in check out temperatures mid 40s to around 50° mild air mass during the overnight hours. another look at that swirling mass of clouds to our north cold air behind it, floodgates open to alaska where these storms are going to come from. right now nothing during the afternoon. tonight, tomorrow's morning commute along the coast santa cruz mountains mainly north bay wet everyone gets wet, on and off rain throughout the day the front

stalls wednesday couple of chunks of energy roll across it squeezes out waves of rain some heavy at times by 7:00, 8:00 it starts to clear out. during the same time 11:00 tonight through 5:00 wednesday morning two to three feet of snow up in the sierra. that is down to about 7,000 feet. it is going to be chain requirements all week in the high country. check out the seven day forecast, rain tomorrow, heavy rain wednesday, one to three inches possible, three to five in our mountains more rain thursday and friday coldest part of the system comes in saturday, temperatures struggle in the low to mid 50s when we can see snow on some of our mountains by the end of the storm we could have four, five inches of rain. >> hopefully the s will be happy. -- the leprechauns will be happy. free internet service coming to the south bay all new access wifi, dozens of

wifi devices will be installed on traffic lights, street poles. city officials are hoping the free outdoor network will attract more professionals and boost san jose's title as the capital of zillion valley. two new bidders may be interested in buying the a's and keeping them this town. one group is from l.a. and recently dropped out of bidding for the bankrupted dodgers. the second group led by silicon valley executive. this comes amid a growing belief that baseball won't challenge the giants' claim to territorial rights in the south bay. meaning no other major league team could move there to word from the a's

today at 3:00, the buzz is honey is the newest food trend. we'll have recipes. then a medieval castle burns down two preteen boys are being blamed. deja vu at a hospital in the south bay, a twin born 31 years ago delivers her own set of twins at the same hospital by same staff. those stories later today. for all of us here thanks for joining us. keep track of the latest breaking news on twitter and you can talk about it at base

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