the damage, and power problems your realtime captioner is linda marie macdonald. right now, firefighters on watch for flare-ups up in the berkeley hits. damage and power problems from a fast-moving fire in the berkeley hills. let's take a live look at the bay bridge to see some fog, not too bad in this area. but there is definitely fog out there. how it could cause problems for drivers this morning. good morning, everyone. it is thursday, the 29th of december. big holiday weekend approaching. i'm frank mallicoat. >> i'm grace lee. i cannot believe the end of the year is here. our life is passing before our eyes. >> what are we doing with our isles? >> i don't know. >> getting up early. >> what are we doing with our

lives? >> i don't know. >> hopefully you're still in bed comfy and cozy. fog is thick across the bay area. there's our current temperatures across the bay area. mostly in the 40s and 50s. so definitely a mild start but yeah, fog, it's all over the place this morning so low clouds and fog an issue. we have our roof cam so we can show it to you. this is a live look, i guess, over san francisco. it's hard to tell. you saw that live look over the bay bridge. it's still foggy on the deck so watch out while you're driving mostly on the san francisco side of the span obviously it's an issue. but let's go to gianna. we have a couple of fog advisories. almost every bridge except the richmond/san rafael bridge is under a fog advisory. live look at the bay bridge, most of the fog is on the span. all bridges affected. we'll keep you posted. >> not too bad in the city.

i walked up to my car. a little patchy. >> i saw some fog on the way? >> right around our building it was really foggy. 4:32. this morning, fire crews are still on the scene searching for the cause of a major fire that happened in the east bay. the fire burned two homes on miller avenue in the berkeley hills last night. sharon chin is in berkeley now where several homes were evacuated. sharon. >> reporter: good morning, frank and grace. we're here where fire engines are on the scene overnight looking for hotspots. there haven't been any big flare-ups overnight. we are expecting at 8 a.m. a fire prevention officer will be here looking into the cause of the fire. the intense three-alarm fire heavily damaged two homes on the 1000 block of miller avenue leaving 6 people homeless this morning. it started at about 8:30 last night and flames shot up to 60 feet in the air swirling around

redwood trees. at one point a power line came down on a fire truck. the firefighters had to get out. berkeley had to bring in an emergency truck with additional water to fight the fire. several houses were evacuated. >> there were evacuated. the police department assisted in evacuating houses on miller and grizzly peak. the number that i got was about 15 homes that were evacuated in and around the structure. >> reporter: no injuries to residents but three firefighters were hurt, two suffering from these exhaustion and a third with an injured knee. the flames were so fierce that at one point every available berkeley fire unit was on scene. crews from alameda county came in and helped cover the rest of the city. neighbors say they are thankful that there wasn't much wind last night and that helped fire crews keep the blaze from spreading through the area. when the power line came down, power was out of course.

power is back on in the neighborhood except for two homes that were affected by the fire. >> thank you. the latest up encampment was -- "occupy oakland" encampment was there for only one day. the owner of the lot in west oakland asked police to move the dozen tents. officers warned them to leave. those who didn't were cited and then released. one person was arrested. a man wanted for kidnapping and assault in san francisco is now accused of ramming a police car in oakland. plainclothes san francisco officers spotted the suspect near 45th avenue and international boulevard yesterday afternoon. he saw them too. they say he intentionally rammed their vehicle as he fled. no one was hurt and the man managed to get away. fremont police are searching for two drivers involved in a deadly hit-and- run. it happened off of ardenwood boulevard near 84 in fremont

monday night. he was pushing a friend across the street and was hit by a car. the died at the scene. >> he got me over to the corner and i stayed on the corner and then he walked across the street and he got run over. [ crying ] >> his friend says he was hanging out at the corner lately and they hope someone will come forward with information. a trail of evidence could help police find a hit-and-run driver who plowed into a vacaville teen on a sidewalk. a late model maroon toyota sequoia sideswiped a boy as he walked to his grandmother's house tuesday night. he is in the hospital but not seriously hurt. the suv left a trail of fluid that led to a nearby target and surveillance video captured the driver entering the store. san jose mother accused of talking her toddler out of a second store -- tossing her

toddler out of a second-story window will face charges. authorities are trying to figure out if mental illness affected her on christmas when she dropped her nearly 2-year- old boy out the window. she may spend more than 7 years in jail if convicted. 4:36 now. this morning, the state supreme court is set to release a decision that's crucial to cities in california. it has to do with the state's plan to divert $1.7 billion of redevelopment money to reduce california's budget deficit. that move was challenged in a lawsuit by redevelopment agencies and the cities of san jose and union city. they say it violates proposition 22 a voter-approved measure that bars the state from seizing local tax money. five days and counting, when iowans have their republican caucus. as duarte geraldino reports one candidate is enjoying a jump in

the polls. reporter: michele bachmann's campaign is dealing with another blow just hours after appearing with the minnesota congresswoman at an event wednesday, her iowa campaign manager state senator ken sorenson defected joining ron paul's team. >> we're going to take ron paul all the way to the white house! >> whoo! >> reporter: but bachmann claims his decision wasn't just based on politics. >> ken sorenson personally told me he was offered a large sum of money to go to work for the ron paul campaign. >> reporter: paul's team insists it did not pay sorenson accusing bachmann of slandering the state senator. bachmann already had her work cut out for her. a new poll of iowa republicans shows only 9% would vote for her at next tuesday's caucus. >> hello. >> reporter: the poll's biggest surprise, former pennsylvania senator rick santorum after struggling for months suddenly surged to third place with 16%. that's an 11-point gain since the beginning of december. newt gingrich on the other hand

has plummeted to fourth place ron paul is three-point behind mitt romney. >> the president wants to fundamentally transform america. i kind of like america. >> reporter: last night the former massachusetts governor drew one of his largest crowds yet at a town hall meeting in iowa hoping for a bigger turnout at next week's caucuses. duarte geraldine for for cbs news, washington. the other major republican jon huntsman is not actively campaigning in iowa. he is focusing his efforts on new hampshire and plans to stay there until the january 10 primary. north korea has declared a new supreme leader during the funeral ceremonies for kim jong- il. the thousands of people watched his son kim jong-un take over the title during memorial for his late father. he now rules over the top political party, military and some 24 million north korean citizens.

today mark the second day of ceremonies for the former supreme leader who died of a heart attack on december 17. people trying to get a clue about what's happening in korea. >> his son is awfully young, in the 20s. >> i heard 22. >> late 20s. >> not quite that young. still very young, you're right. >> to take over 29 million people. how about some weather? let's kick it over to elizabeth. >> lawrence is getting to sleep in. little miss sunshine and little miss fog today. foggy brains a little bit this morning, it's early. we have fog outside. yeah. we have fog everywhere this morning. we even have a dense fog advisory in our north bay valleys talking santa rosa, napa, fairfield. yeah, be careful out there. visibility less than a quarter mile in some spots so gianna is going to have your traffic report in a little bit but chp has several fog advisories issued for a lot of our bridges, as well. so the good news is it's

keeping temperatures mild. it's mostly until the upper to mid-40s, but some 50s. concord 46. high pressure is still there. it's keeping us dry through today. now, we're going to see some changes tomorrow. that low pressure system is bringing us a chance of rain and now it looks like those rain chances are all over the bay area. we were initially saying just in the north bay but now it looks like we could get some showers all over the bay area. even south of the golden gate. so here's a look at temperatures. your highs for later on today once again these are slightly above average. 61 vallejo, 60 oakland, looks like we're coming in at 62 degrees out in redwood city. so for the most part upper 50s to low 60s. staying dry once again for today. partly cloudy skies. then check out friday. there is now a chance of showers for inland bay and coast saturday and sunday, new year's eve and new year's day. we are drying out. then temperatures remain above

average through the middle of next week. that is your weather. for your traffic, let's go over to gianna and check these foggy roads. >> we definitely have a few advisories to report according to chp. if you are heading as contract bay bridge, dense fog reported especially as you work your way into san francisco on the upper and lower decks of the bay bridge. not too bad approaching the toll plaza there but that fog advisory is in effect. there is roadwork as well on the lower deck of the bay bridge. that will be there until 6:00. here's live look at the upper deck of the bay bridge. you can't see it too well but lots of fog reported through there. san mateo bridge also fog advisory through here, dumbarton bridge fog advisory and word of a fog advisory on the carquinez bridge and the benicia bridge. we'll check the golden gate bridge coming up. back to you. >> thank you. iran comes out with a bold threat. the defiant move that could affect what we pay at the pump. >> and bp in the hot seat one more time for the worst oil spill in u.s. history. why it could be slapped with criminal charges. a california comeback. why more pesticides are being

pumped into crops and how this affects your shopping. ♪ secondhand smoke affects everyone's health. it's not just irritating. it can cause heart disease and even death. speak up about secondhand smoke. your health and the health of your family depend on it.

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easier banking. standard at citibank. aircraft carrier near a key oil show of this morning iran says one of its planes shot video of a u.s. aircraft carrier near a key oil root. it is a show of power as tensions now rise between iran and the west. now, iran is threatening to close the strait of hormuz passageway for one sixth of the world's oil supply between the gulf of oman and the pepping. the threat is in response to the -- and the persian gulf. the threat is in response to the new sanctions of iran's oil exports because of its suspect nuclear program. the u.s. navy says it's ready to count offer any attempt to block of freedom -- to counter any attempt to block the freedom of travel in the area. the "wall street journal" reports federal prosecutors are considering charges against several bp employees accused of

providing false information to regulators about the risk of the oil rig, the accident that led to the oil spill in the gulf of mexico killed a number of people. the use of pesticides in california crops is on the rise. last year, 173 million pounds of pesticides and herbicides were used on produce grown in the state, a 10% increase after years of decline. industry advocates say pesticides help farmers generate more crops per acre making sure high quality food stays affordable and safe. consumer opinions vary. >> i think we are experiencing the longest average age ever on the face of the earth. so i'm not that concerned about it. >> i carry around the dirty 10 list when i shop and i try to avoid as much as possible. >> are you -- do you buy organic when you can? >> yes, absolutely. >> people who sell organic food say there is a growing demand for produce touted as being

free of pesticides and herbicides. san francisco is one of the major cities hit by a massive verizon network outage. >> it's the third time in a month that customers ran into data connection problems. this latest issue affecting 4-g devices. in a statement, verizon admitted it's troubleshooting network problems right now. customers on older devices can still make calls and text messages. but big problem here in the bay area. 4:46. target at the center of a new backlash. why mothers around the country were protesting the retail chain. >> and it is called blood alley for a good reason. why fines are about to double on a notorious bay area road. go get help, go get help! >> talking about a good pooch to have around in a emergency. that little pug is trained to dial 911 and can do a whole lot more. that story coming up. ]?2ñ#ñeñhz

beginning sunday. vasco road, the curvy 19-mile

stretch between livermore and fines for speeding on a notorious bay area road will double on vasco road between livermore add brentwood. it's been nicknamed blood alley by some. the number of deadly crashes is 1 1/2 times higher than the state average for similar roads. the new fine is designed to get people to slow down hopefully. we asked some of the drivers there if they think it will work. >> i doubt it. >> anything that will make it safer will be great. >> the count has made improvements to the road and the number of deadly crashes is down. the double fine zone traffic signs have already been installed. u.s. attorney general eric holder says it's unacceptable trend. the number of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty jumped 13% this year. a total of 173 federal, state and local officers were killed

this year, 68 dying from gunfire, 64 caused by traffic accidents, 10 officers killed this year in california alone. a memorial to those who died in the september 11th attacks is drawing big crowds. the memorial at the site of the world trade center in new york opened to the public september 12. officials are expected to announce officially the 1 millionth visitor today. even after the initial surge of visitors, it draws about 10,000 visitors a day. >> have you been to ground zero before? >> you know, i haven't been in years but it really strikes you when you go. >> think how long it's taken just to get where it is now 10 years later. nasa's new mission to the moon starts on new year's day. >> the agency has twin spacecraft due to enter the moon's orbit this weekend. the so-called grail probes will study the lunar gravity field. nasa wants to continue explore space by launching a small

rocket from the moon using data from the probes to figure out just how to do that. it is 4:50 now. straight from the fog bank, the east bay, is our weather gal this morning, elizabeth. >> it's actually not that foggy in the east bay. some portions of the east bay interior valleys, they are seeing some fog but otherwise if you are crossing the bay bridge, too, oakland side is okay about an hour ago. fog is shifting around but yeah, it's the san francisco side of the bay bridge where you will see this fog and gianna says there is a fog advisory issued by chp for the bay bridge. be careful on the roads. we have fog all over the place. there is an official dense fog advisory for the north bay valleys. so we are talking napa, santa rosa and areas like concord seeing a lot of fog, as well. so yeah, this fog going to stick around until 9:00 when the dense fog advisory is supposed to be lifted. this afternoon, a little bit more sunshine, some of the sun

comes out. we're expecting mild conditions, mild temperatures. the temperatures are actually slightly above average for this time of year, upper 50s to low 60s in a lot of spots. we are staying dry for today. high pressure remains relatively in place. it is moving slightly farther south. but now this low is coming and this is bringing us a chance of rain showers all over the bay area on friday so we have moved that rain line down south. initially we thought the rain would only hit north of the golden gate. that's no longer the case. now all of the bay area has a chance of rain. whatever kind of rain falls it's not much. we are not expecting it to be a huge rainmaker but we haven't had rain in weeks so we need all the rain we can get. today 61 in mountain view, 57 pacifica. 60 concord. 59 san rafael. 58 kentfield. 58 richmond for later on today. dry today. we are keeping that chance of

rain, bay, coast and inland, on friday. then dry for new year's eve and new year's day. check the temperatures the middle of next week. slightly above average, 66 inland expected by wednesday. so once again if you have happy new year 2012 plans, overnight lows in the upper 30s to low 50s. that's weather. for your traffic, here's gianna. >> hit the roads early this morning. you will need extra time of the we are dealing with foggy freeways. most of our bay area bridges are under fog advisories according to the chp. golden gate bridge we are seeing some fog here as well not too bad those on southbound 101 into san francisco. bay bridge fog advisory is issued most of that dense fog heading into the san francisco side across the bay bridge. lower deck lights out at the bay bridge so it is dark and foggy. use caution. there is caltrans set up on the lower deck of the bay bridge near treasure island. the left lane blocked. san mateo bridge also affected both directions reportedly very foggy. they have issued a fog advisory here, as well. no delays though 14 minutes

between 880 and 101. fog advisory on the dumbarton bridge as well as the carquinez bridge and the benicia bridge. but 65 miles per hour through there so traffic moving at an okay speed. we'll check mass transit next. back to you. >> thank you. genentech will probably not try to get avastin approved for use against advanced ovarian cancer here in the u.s. two studies find avastin does not improve survival rates for most patients. it did keep the disease from getting worse for a few months. but it had a lot of side effects. last month the fda revoked approval for avastin for breast cancer treatment. mothers launched a nurse-in at target stores. it started last month when target employees in texas asked a woman to go in a dressing room to breast-feed her baby instead of being out in the store. yesterday, women gathered at the retailer stores including this one in san jose to nurse their babies in support of that woman in texas. target insists that it has

always been a family store and its policy officially does not restrict women where they can breast-feed. it is 4:55 now. his evening began with a dinner in beverly hills but paul diamond ended up getting the heimlich maneuver from a 325- pound football player. >> yikes. >> it happened yesterday at lowery's beef bowl which every year serves prime rib to members of the teams playing in the rose bowl. diamond bit off more than he could chew so a university of oregon guard got behind him and gave him the potentially life- saving bear hug. >> the first heave was a test heave because the guy seemed a little old. i didn't want to break his ribs. so test heave and he seemed like he could handle a full force heave so i popped it out. >> asper even broke the man's sunglasses while helping him and says he will replace them.

>> can you imagine? >> if you need the heimlich i guess you need a guy with a good grip. 325 pounds -- >> that will do it. a veteran who suffers from ptsd says his saving grace what's only 11 pounds. >> we are -- weighs only 11 pounds. >> we're talking about a service dog who can dial 911 with a single phone button. james taylor's dog dials the emergency line. the dog for life program trained peppy to help veterans with the challenges of civilian life. >> without her, i couldn't imagine my life. i would probably be a lot of homebound because of what i suffer severely. and with her, i can go out. i know if i have any kind of problem, she is going to help me right through it. and that's what she does. >> the fire alarm goes off she will find him and turn into circles. if she is having a nightmare

peipei will lick him to wake him up. >> what's the pronounciation? >> i think it's peppy. >> looks like the dog from the men in black movie. >> it does. 4:57 now. the celebrity most people want their neighbors to pick may surprise you. >> plus, lots of shake-ups in the gop presidential race. the staffing drama that's happening for michele bachmann and the front-runner who is now sliding in the polls. the fire that took the resources of all of berkeley's available fire units that story coming up.

evacuations. a new show of power from bold threat that c this morning, hotspot patrol in the berkeley hills. the damage from a fire that forced evacuations. and a new show of power from iran. the bold threat that could impact our gas prices. >> check out this live look at the skyline in san francisco. you can't see the bridge or the embarcadero. fog clouding all of our cameras this morning so we'll tell you when the fog will lift and when we're expecting to see rain before the new