closed captioning by closed captioning services,inc this is an animated view from the 50 yard line at the future 49ers' stadium in santa clara. after years of debate the official groundbreaking takes place in a few hours. terry mcsweeney is live at the site with a preview. >> reporter: what we're hearing about this groundbreaking it could be a groundbreaking, ground breaking. thousands are expected down here to the future site of the 49ers where they build their 1.2 billion dollar, 68,000 seat stadium. you see the workers getting everything ready around the

site. big names here tonight, big money. when the shovels hit the ground, could give new meaning to the concept of pay dirt! on this field in that red dirt is where the ceremonial groundbreaking will take place 6:30 tonight packed with thousands of guests, including former and current 49ers, team officials and santa clara city officials all with visions of the new stadium dancing in their heads. for the mayor the visions include construction jobs, a sector currently facing 36% unemployment. >> we have one of the largest construction project ms. the state going forward with this one billion dollar project and an an tpweplt that will ensure our local people get to work. >> reporter: there are many sides to this issue a pan who lives not far from the stadium understands many of them. -- >> it is going to have an impact to the traffic and other things. but i personally feel maybe property values will go up.

>> reporter: supporters see a source of pride for the entire silicon valley. >> having the stadium will provide to the world the response to where is silicon valley? because it is going to be an iconic building. not only certified for environmental centers reare reaching for gold. >> i'm happy, i hope they can change the name too. >> reporter: to the santa clara 49ers? >> yeah. >> reporter: the mayor is not ready to go that far he says san francisco and santa clara have a long history of cooperation. >> remember when the mission was built the presidio was built to protect it we have a very deep relationship. >> reporter: if you want to see all the surprises that have been promised for tonight's breaking, you are not invited, i'm not invited, but we can watch. go to abc7news.com and we are going to be streaming the big event. terry mcsweeney, abc7 news. there's been a new legal

setback in court today for suspended sheriff ross mirkarimi. outside court the controversy continues over his version of a fight with his wife that bruised her arm. amy hollyfield joins us from superior court. >> reporter: it was not a big surprise that mirkarimi lost in court today. what was interesting was what happened outside of court with a deputy city attorney questioning what mirkarimi is now telling the public. heading into court today, ross mirkarimi seemed relieved to have shared his story. the suspended sheriff appeared on radio yesterday and told his version of the fight with his wife. saying he bruised her arm when he grabbed her to try and move her way from their son because she was so emotional and was upsetting the 2-year-old. >> i'm happy that i mustered the energy to share part of that story. obviously it takes more than 30 seconds to do. but the bottom line is, i take full responsibility.

>> reporter: the city attorney's office was listening. one attorney didn't go so far as to call mirkarimi a liar. but said his public statements don't match the evidence she says they have. >> we don't think the explanations that are being offered now are particularly credible. and we are prepared to go forward at the ethics committee with evidence to show why they are not. >> reporter: we asked mirkarimi about her claims. >> all i can tell you is that i've taken responsibility for what has occurred. and being held accountable for it now. that has already been adjudicated. >> reporter: mirkarimi is trying to keep this away from the ethics commission and of have advisers. he's bringing two issues before a judge instead. he lost today's attempt. tomorrow, he will ask a judge to toss out his suspension. >> we hope to obtain a favorable result tomorrow and put an end to this massive waste of taxpayer resources and let sheriff mirkarimi get back to doing the job he was

elected to do. >> reporter: tomorrow is a big day. mirkarimi was suspended from his job last month because he entered that guilty plea in the domestic violence case. if the judge rules in his favor tomorrow, he could be back on-the-job. amy hollyfield, abc7 news. classes at oakland's oikos university will resume monday for the first time since that deadly shooting spree three weeks ago. most classes will be held in the same building where police say one get killed six former classmates and a receptionist, april 2nd. several students have said they will not return to the campus and only willing to complete their degrees if classes are held at another location. the christian university attracts many korean students and offers vocational nursing degrees. the director has raised concerns about whether the university can continue to stay open in the wake of that tragedy. developing news, coast guard boats and aircraft still arriving in part of the

gulf of mexico where small plane has gone down after circling aimlessly for hours. the plane was a twin engine cessna 421 like this one. officials believe the pilot may have loss consciousness before the crash. halfway into a flight from louisiana to florida, the began flying in circles, air traffic controllers lost contact with the pilot. two fighter jets followed the plane until it went down in the water in one piece. no word on the pilot's condition. new this morning, the department of veterans affairs has just announced it is increasing its staff of mental health workers by nearly 2,000. the government wants to make sure all vets have adequate access to health care. 1600 children niche s and 300 support staff will be -- clinicians and 300 support staff will be added. since 2007 the va has seen a

35% increase in the number of vets in need of mental health services. new numbers from the federal government show the pace of new hiring is slowing. the labor department says, applications for unemployment benefits dipped by 2,000 last week to 386,000, but that's after the previous week's data was revised to show an uptick in claims. analysts believe the number of claims is too high to lower the national jobless rate which is currently 8.2%. meanwhile, the national association of realtors says, sales of previously owned homes fell nearly 3% last month as the market continues to struggle many the report says a mild winter may have encouraged more to buy earlier. january and february sales combined to make up the best winter home sale season in five years. sales remain far below what economists believe is a healthy market. ♪ ♪ ♪

>> representatives from silicon valley as splunk rang in the trading day this morning on the nasdaq. the mining company went public on the exchange and shares soared to $30 to, nearly doubling the opening price which had already been raised. that puts the value at more than 1 1/2 billion dollars. the clients include facebook, zynga, bank of america and wal-mart. tomorrow two more local companies will go public followed by facebook next month. the local ceremony eye lighting -- highlighting our friends and neighbors today with the eyewitness account that could mean new fallout in the growing prostitution scandal involving the uss is

more firings are expected in the scandal involving secret service. it happened prior to president obama's visit. >> reporter: the secret service late night party with colombian prostitutes may not have been spur of the moment. abc news has learned before at agents went to the play club they reserved a space for a hotel large enough for at least 30 people. sources say several of the men not only met the prostitutes at this nightclub but they paid them to have sex in the

club before bringing them back to the party space at the hotel. the no times spoke to one of the women with the agents that night -- they never told me they were with obama, they were very discreet, she said. she told the times she argued within one over her payment. she agreed to go back to the hotel for $800. the next morning he said he would only pay $30. i tell him baby my cash money. after a loud argument, that drew the attention of the police at agent agreed to pay her roughly $250. the secret service has not confirmed her account. lawmakers has expressed concerns about potential risk to national security for now there's no indication the prosecutes -- prostitutes were spies or walked away with any classified information. >> there's nothing thus far the investigation will take place and we'll be able to know, but nothing so far. >> reporter: judiciary committee plans hearings.

homeland security secretary napolitano oversees the secret service and will certainly be on the hot seat. karen travers, abc news, washington. today marks the 17th anniversary of the deadly oklahoma city bombing. a bagpiper led the solemn sermon at the site of the former murrah federal building where 1 of 8 were killed and 500 -- where 168 were killed and 500 wounded. one of only six children survived now a senior at the university of oklahoma. >> we come here to remember those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever. may all who leave here know the impact of violence. may this memorial offer comfort, strength, peace, hope and serenity. ♪ ♪ >> two americans timothy mcveigh and terry nichols were convicted on charges related to the attack. mcveigh was executed in 2001.

nichols is serving life in prison. we are going to switch gears. a breakfast designed forañ real heroes. i had the honor of emcees the -- emceeing the american red cross heroes event in san rafael this morning. several different awards were handed out to individuals and groups that went above and beyond to help a neighbor or stranger and in some cases, save a life. one example the tiburon ferry company received active courage award the crew helped rescue a kayaker good tans jumped to help. >> i was not breathing, i'm not sure if i had a heartbeat or not. certainly would have died if not for mike and his two friends. >> incredible. it is interesting, kind of a unique opportunity that you are given. i guess it feels good.

and thankful that he's all right. >> amazing. [ unintelligible ] all saying what they do is nothing. we'll bring you more of their heroic stories later today at 5:00. >> the true heroes they never want to take credit. >> our congratulations to all of them. beautiful weather out there. >> you don't want to sleep today, lots of sun, things are going to warm up even more here's a live shot coastal clouds, i'll tell you when they clear, shortly. calling all amateur astronomers. nasa wants you to help them. right now perhaps this second, bart is handing out free tickets. free tickets. we'll tell you where to go. now's a great time to get at&t u-verse tv. make the switch! [ female announcer ] call to get u-verse -- now with free hd -- for only 25 a month for six months -- our lowest price ever --

with a total home dvr included. plus get hbo and cinemax free for three months. [ male announcer ] with u-verse tv, you can record four shows at once with a total home dvr that lets you play back, pause, or rewind your shows from any room. [ female announcer ] so call at&t to get u-verse -- now with free hd -- for only 25 a month for six months -- our lowest price ever -- with a total home dvr included. plus get hbo and cinemax free for three months. [ male announcer ] and u-verse tv is "highest in residential television service satisfaction" by j.d. power and associates. that's four years in a row! even upgrade to over 170 hd channels. that's more than cable. [ female announcer ] at&t u-verse -- tv like you've never seen before. ♪

the final destination for the space shuttle discovery thousands joined 10 former discovery commanders and astronaut john glenn to welcome discovery to its new home at the smithsonian. discovery through to space and back 39 -- flew to space and back 39 times. visitors can only look, no one will be allowed inside discovery. museum officials say opening the shuttle up to the public would damage it. discovery is getting

settled in its new home. nasa is releasing new ring tone for your phone you can hear the roar of the launch or neil armstrong's famous words "one step for man one giant leap for man tim kind." even -- for mankind." even "houston we have a problem." nasa wants your help in studying asteroids and their characteristics the gold to know more about position, -- down here on earth it is glorious. i was in marin county this morning it was fantastic. >> some of those clouds are still sticking along the coast. i want to show you a couple live camera shots. check out the golden gate bridge, we are looking west from emeryville still buried

under low clouds and fog that will clear and push back to the coast but not until this afternoon in some locations. then down to santa cruz check out how beautiful it is here, we are talking warm, beach weather even today and even warmer this weekend. temperatures right now are in the 60s. san francisco 60°. the cool spot is half moon bay 57. that's where we have more clouds. already 68 in antioch many compared to yesterday at this time, we are about five degrees warmer than yesterday. that sets the trend for the next few days. even in santa rosa six degrees warmer than yesterday. you will see that all around the bay area. temperatures warmer today by 3 to 7° for everyone and then even the warmest days expected this weekend we haven't seen temperatures like this for quite sometime, especially for several days in a row things start to cool down next week so far looking dry. we have this warm front moving

through and we have this area of high pressure got this clockwise flow pushing warm air towards the bay area then moving over us as the ridge builds this weekend that's why we'll see warmer temperatures saturday, especially. high of 67 in san francisco, hot spot 80 in antioch. quite a reigning of temperatures as you will notice -- quite a range of temperatures as you will notice. almost like a summertime pattern 72 oakland, 78 san jose look for low 80s through morgan hill and gilroy, santa cruz high of 76°. around the state it will be cool in eureka with rain, 60° for you, partly cloudy in chico 79 lots of sun palm springs 97 and 78 in los angeles. overnight lows will be milder this time of year we are in the upper 40s to low 50s. tomorrow morning, look for

temperatures to be in the 50s. 54 san francisco, very mild in antioch 59, 57 in san jose. if you have been sneezing a lot, tree pollen, mold pollen very high. here's your seven day forecast, a nice day today, warmer near 90° on saturday, probably the warmest day. doesn't look like we'll bring any records but we'll get close heading to the beach, great, enjoy it. slight cool down beginning next week. >> good news, thank you so much meteorologist frances dinglasan. >> wearing your other hat today. happening right now, if you are riding bart for the next few hours you could get your ride free. part of a blue sky festival at justin herman plaza in san francisco. the first 5,000 people who get a special passport stamped by six exhibitors will receive a $6 bart ticket for free. the festival runs until 2 p.m. and features 50 eco exhibitors

and musicians, all celebrating and musicians, all celebrating eaif you have copd like i do, you know how hard it can be to breathe and what that feels like. copd includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. spiriva helps control my copd symptoms by keeping my airways open a full 24 hours. plus, it reduces copd flare-ups. spiriva is the only once-daily inhaled copd maintenance treatment that does both. and it's steroid-free. spiriva does not replace fast-acting inhalers

for sudden symptoms. tell your doctor if you have kidney problems, glaucoma, trouble urinating, or an enlarged prostate. these may worsen with spiriva. discuss all medicines you take, even eye drops. stop taking spiriva and seek immediate medical help if your breathing suddenly worsens, your throat or tongue swells, you get hives, vision changes or eye pain, or problems passing urine. other side effects include dry mouth and constipation. nothing can reverse copd. spiriva helps me breathe better. does breathing with copd weigh you down? ask your doctor if spiriva can help.

today at the biggers loser shares great workout force the pool. >> she has won more games than any coach in major college basketball history. now pat summit is set to receive the nation's highest honor from president obama. >> at 5, the u.s. doctor who claims he can deliver a parents boy or girl, whatever they want. but is it legal? those stories and more at 4:00 and 5. let's look ahead to the weekend. celebrate caesar chavez and catch a show business legend. >> don sanchez has what's hot. >> reporter: an epic french film, farewell my queen opens two week run at the san francisco international film festival. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: she is a show business legend debbie

reynolds sings and tells fascinating stories spanning six decades sunday afternoon in the marin center. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: tonight be enthralled by the royal family of guitar saturday night in the marin center. >> den be a square. >> reporter: going back to the 50s maple and vine comedy with questions about attitude, gender and race. in the act theater. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: santana headlines 12 annual caesar chavez parade and festival in the mission all day saturday. the 16th annual youth speaks poetry slam finals this weekend around the bay. i'm don sanchez, abc7 news. for all of us, thank you for joining us. >> who wants to be a millionaire is next. >> keep track of the latest

breaking news on twitter and