not." bay area high school students coming home today in big trouble. there were people around me freaking out because they didn't know if they should turn it in or not. >> bay area high school students coming home today in some big trouble: the major drug bust on a ski trip. >> 2011 a rough year in san jose. how police are trying to turn around the highest homicide rate in nearly 15 years. and good morning, everybody in unison. it is... >> friday! >> i'm working tomorrow. [ laughter ] >> oh. >> thursday sort of. >> yeah. >> well, take the wind out of our sails. [ laughter ] >> i'm frank mallicoat. it's the day before new year's eve. it is friday. but elizabeth has to work tomorrow. >> i have to work tomorrow but the morning show is a little

bit later. >> you just haven't worked enough over the holidays. >> this is the end of the stretch. let's take a live look from our roof cam. filling in on weather this week. you can see it is a little foggy outside. not as foggy this morning as yesterday. but you will need your windshield wipers in some parts of the bay area, as well. it's a little drizzly out there. later on this afternoon, we have a chance of some heavier showers. again, you can see that rain line there moving its way into northern california bringing us mostly mist, cloud out there now. but our rain chances improve to about 20 to 30% by later on this afternoon so we'll be talking much more about this coming up. in the meantime, we are going to hit the roads with gianna. >> it's better than yesterday. we saw fog advisories for three bridges on the peninsula, dumbarton, bay bridge. you can see the fog on the san mateo bridge this morning. we'll update you in just a few

minutes. happy friday. >> thursday. [ laughter ] >> friday and a half. drugs packed on buses packed with bay area teenagers headed for a utah ski trip when they made a pit stop in elko, nevada. >> sharon chin is in lafayette, where some of those students are expected to arrive back home today. she joins us with more. sharon, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. some of those students are expected to come back home today and organizers say there were hundreds of students on the ski trip from northern california. about six dozen from acalanes high school and in all 17 found with drugs. this is what elko police in northern nevada confiscated from five tour buses of 250 teenagers as young as 15. drugs including ecstasy, mushrooms, cocaine, marijuana, and bottles of alcohol. police say the group had been travel eight hours to a ski trip in salt lake city and were four to five hours away when a

store clerk reported passengers smoking in a nevada parking lot. police dogs sniffed drugs and elko police say they gave the mostly teenaged passengers a choice, lockup or turn over the drugs. >> there was people around me that were freaking out because they didn't know if they should turn it in or not because if they didn't turn it in and they got caught, they would like -- everyone's trip would be ruined because they didn't turn it in. >> some of them apparently were smoking or maybe -- maybe even smoking marijuana outside the bus. it appeared suspicious to the people at the maverick store. >> reporter: they voluntarily turned over the drugs. no one was arrested. elko police say the passengers included students from bay area high schools like acalanes, campolindo, concord, livermore, burlingame, santa cruz, petaluma, gilroy and de la salle. the ski trip to salt lake city was not sponsored by any of the local high schools but by a group called s.w.a.t., or summer, winter action tours,

organized for hundreds of students in the state. s.w.a.t. confirms that nine buses left the bay area, five of them stopped and s.w.a.t. blames the parents of the teens for not checking the bags before the kids boarded the bus. cbs 5 talk with some of the parents and they say nobody notified them of anything. they say they would like to have been notified. s.w.a.t. says that they did not want to create mass panic. >> can you imagine being the parent of one of those teens? >> and look at the conference table. so all of the kids who gave up the drugs willingly, no one is going to be arrested or charged, they just wanted to collect them, send them home and have their parents take care of them? >> reporter: apparently, they got a little bit of a talking to, a fatherly talk as they say, by the elko police chief who said, you know, you don't do drugs or this kind of thing. they did voluntarily turn them over and said he wanted to make this into a teachable moment, a

lesson for them and not put them in detention. >> hopefully it works. >> lesson learned? i hope so. thank you, sharon chin in lafayette. san jose's homicide rate is at its highest level in 15 years. this year, there were 38 murders. that compares with 20 last year. the new number is still lower than san francisco's 50 and oakland's 102. at the halfway point of the year, there were 26 homicides in san jose. so the rate dropped off in the second half of the year. a police spokesman says that that's because of intensified efforts at gang suppression with only four gang-related murders in the latter half. san jose police are investigating a possible attack on a 16-year-old girl at wednesday's san jose sharks game. the "mercury news" reports the discovery bay girl seen in a family picture was wearing a vancouver canucks jersey. she was sent to the hospital after she was hit on the head by a woman sitting behind her. the woman says it was an accident. the girl had surgery for a brain tumor just four years ago but wednesday ahe is blow did

not aggravate that. funeral is planned this morning for this man, for an oakland murder victim whose organs have been donated to several patients in the bay area. 23-year-old charles butler, jr., was shot near his home last thursday. on christmas his organs were donated to daniel murphy from antioch and other patients in the bay area. butler's funeral is 11 a.m. at the center of hope in oakland. fremont mayor bob wasserman has died. he had been the mayor of the bay area's fourth largest city since 2004 wars first elected to city council back in 1992. before that, he was fremont's police chief for 15 years. the vice mayor will take over as interim mayor. bob wasserman died yesterday while hospitalized for respiratory problems. he was 77. it is a victory for california's efforts to reduce the budget deficit. but it's also at the same time a crushing defeat for many of the state's cities.

the state's supreme court has ruled that the state can divert money from redevelopment agencies. a lawsuit had been filed to stop them from seizing local tax money. it's not clear what will become of redevelopment agencies. but some cities have already been planning futures without them. >> we have an expansion of the convention center going on today entirely financed by the hotels. we have a baseball stadium we're hoping to build that will be entirely privately financed. our soccer stadium will be under construction this year. >> santa clara will have to reevaluate its plans to partially finance the new 49ers football stadium. and san francisco officials say signed contracts on work already started means that redevelopment money can still be spent on those particular ones. a federal judge has halted enforcement of part of california's controversial greenhouse gas law. the judge says that the first-

in-the-nation law for low carbon fuel stations straits against crude oil and ethanol i am -- discriminates against crude oil and ethanol imported from outside the state. companies outside california will not have to buy credits to comply with the rules. the state plans to ask the judge to stay the decision pending appeal. it is 4:38 now. the countdown to the iowa caucuses is now down to just four days. and as duarte geraldine no reports, most republican presidential hopefuls are scrambling to win support of those undecided voters. ♪ [ music ] >> reporter: mitt romney's campaign bus pulled into a packed warehouse in iowa trying to rev up voters. on stage, the former massachusetts governor attacked president obama suggesting he was out of touch with struggling americans even comparing him to infamous french queen marie antoinette. >> i watched the president. he said it could have been worse. [ laughter ] >> that goes down there with let them eat cake. >> reporter: romney and ron paul currently lead the polls in iowa but their rivals are trying to cut into that momentum. >> this idea that barack obama

can only lose to mitt romney is simply false and you don't have to settle. >> reporter: former pennsylvania senator rick santorum is hoping to can'tize on his growing support which has other contenders taking notice. >> which republican running for president voted for the bridge to nowher earmark? >> rick santorum? >> correct. >> reporter: michele bachmann is also vying to push ahead. the congresswoman is denying rumors her campaign is in disarray after losing two key staffers. thursday she lost her political director a day after ken sorenson defected joining ron paul's team. bachmann shoulder reporters her phone insisting sorenson called her about a bribe he received from paul's camp. >> clearly, this is something that they generated and, uhm, it shows again that we have powerful momentum. >> reporter: both sonja shin and the paul campaign deny -- both sorenson and the paul campaign deny the allegations.

are you ready for new year's eve? > ism. i'm also drinking coffee. i was hiding it. i saw frank look at it. i was totally busted by frank. >> gin and tonic or something like that. >> just coffee, elizabeth. >> paper cups not allowed onset. a little behind the scenes info. >> you're letting all our secrets out. >> the one hand? whenever you notice one hand behind the desk, we're hiding something down there. here's your temperatures outside. if you are about to step outside, the temperatures are mild. we are all in the 50s this morning. but we have a lot of fog a lot of cloud cover out there. so that's what's keeping us mild. it's also a little drizzly. i had to use my windshield wipers when i was coming into work this morning. so bring your umbrella just in case. we do have this cold front moving in. it's bringing us a chance of rain. the more likely hood of rain, the farther north you are so the north bay about a 20 to 30% chance of rain later on this afternoon. looks like the south bay may

not see any rain but we're giving those rain chances to all of the bay area this morning just in case. so temperatures mostly going to be in the upper 50s, low 60s across the bay area. kind of similar story to yesterday. so we'll talk more about the possibility of rain coming up in the meantime we'll show you the fog on the roads with gianna. >> fog advisories have been issued for the bay bridge. you can see in our live shot, limited visibility. no delays into san francisco. also fog advisory for highway 1 through areas of pacifica, 280 through daly city, may affect your drive into san bruno. look at this live shot of our san mateo bridge. hard to see the cars. fog advisory there. 13, 14 minutes to go to 101. we'll have a live look at the dumbarton bridge coming up. back to you. >> thank you. it is a new fee just to pay

your bill. >> the new charge for a popular cell phone provider. also ahead. bay area police have their ears open for this sound on new year's eve. the high-tech way they are tracking down party crashers. and the tricky rescue for a man and man's best friend. how this pair ended up with such a dangerous position and how they got out. all coming up.

guns into the air to celebrate the new year. law officers all over california are meeting with people not to fire their guns into the air to celebrate the new year. east palo alto's using special equipment designed to find anyone who does fire a shot. it may be the only city in the country to have its entire city covered by this shotspotter system. it can detect the exact location of gunfire. >> shotspotter triangulates and tell us us where the gunfire

came from, records it for prosecution later on. >> a conviction for negligent discharge of a firearm could mean up to three years in jail. other bay area cities also have some shotspotters including oakland, redwood city, richmond and right here in san francisco. in other bay area headlines, an arrest has been made in the 1999 murder of a 21- year-old woman from pinole. she was found dead in nevada two months after being reported missing . police say new evidence points to her then's boyfriend raymond wong. he is charged with murder with special circumstances. and a san jose man is behind bars accused of threatening police officers with a machete during a standoff. we brought you this story as breaking news just yesterday. a security guard reported that scott mckinnon was refusing to turn down his music. he made several threats to officers and refused to come out. five hours later officers unleashed a police dog on the suspect and arrested him. a once confidential letter provides some new details of

the scandal that led to mark hurd's 2010 ouster as ceo of hewlett-packard. the san jose "mercury news" obtained a copy of the letter after a delaware court ruled that it should be public. celebrity attorney gloria allred wrote the letter on behalf of jody fisher and it says on the first day fisher worked for the palo alto company, hurd took her to dinner, touched her with his hand, and asked her to spend the night in his room. all right. verizon wireless customers are soon going to have to pay more to pay their bills. the country's largest cell phone company is introducing a $2 fee for every payment made over the phone or online with a credit card. the fee will not apply to electronic check payments or automatic credit card payments. the new charge will kick in january 15. no sears or kmart stores in the bay area are affected by a first wave of closures. the parent company of both

chains sears holdings plans to close up to 120 stores nationwide. so far the only california stores that are being closed are down in the southern part of the state. so that is bad news for them but good news for all the folks up here in northern california, that's for sure. well, there is going to -- going straight from thursday to saturday, what two islands are skipping today altogether. take it out of your pockets at the airport but what really happens to your forgotten loose change? what one lawmaker wants to do with that fortune. and getting a workout with willy wonka twist. how some joggers are testing their tastebuds on an edible trail. and we have a little fog, a little drizzle to start you off with this morning. will we see showers by later on this afternoon? plus a check of your new year's eve forecast. it's all coming up after the break. sweetheart. we need to talk.

i've seen your stunts online. i can explain... jumping a ramp in a shopping cart. so 2005. wait, what? and only 3 likes? honey, it's embarrassing. carol's son got over 12 million views

on that dancing squirrel video. don't you want that? i...i suppose. now go make your dad and me proud. try something funny. [ male announcer ] now everyone's up to speed. get high speed internet for $14.95 a month for 12 months with a one year term. at&t. makes it easy for anne to view her finances from anywhere. like gate d12 for the next three hours. citibank for ipad. easier banking. standard at citibank. is as easy as... making breakfast. omelet? sure. scrambled eggs. [ male announcer ] actually, it's easier. citi financial tools. easier banking. standard at citibank. went bad in southern california..actuall y turned out well.. 19- year- old ivan salas was dehydrated by the time los s firefighters rescu a dog walk that went bad in southern california turned out

well. 19-year-old was dehydrated by the time los angeles firefighters rescued him from the side of a cliff. he was walking with his father and two dogs when the father tossed a bottle that went over the cliff and a dog went after it. here's what happened. he went after the dog but they slid 150 feet down the slope. >> i thought it was the end of my life because i saw the bottom and like there's nothin there to hold on to. first i have to get my dog safe. if anything happens, i hope it happens to me, not to my dog. >> the side of the cliff was crumbling under him so he couldn't get a foothold. two firefighters as you can see rappelled down the cliff to save him. one was able to move the dog to safety before the other firefighter and salas were lowered to the bottom with safety harnesses. if all goes well, 2011 will be the safest year ever for u.s. airlines. according to a consulting firm, there is only one death for

every 7.1 million passengers flying on commercial or charter flights. the current is 1 per 6.4 million flyers from 2004. ever wonders what happens to loose change that passengers leave behind at the airport checkpoints? unclaimed money added up to $376,000 in fiscal 2010. congress allows the tsa to use that money to fund its operations but now one florida lawmaker want to give the cash to the uso, the nonprofit program supporting the military and it is getting considerable support. the proposal has yet to move out of committee of homeland security. how would you like to skip today and move straight into the weekend? that's exactly what they are doing in samoa and another pacific nation. the tiny pacific nations move it the other side of the international dateline at midnight so they jump 24 hours ahead and wipe december 30 off

the calendar. the islands are time traveling to sync up times with trading partners. >> seems like time is passing too fast before our eyes. let's take a live look at our hi-def doppler. it's a little active this morning. you can see a little bit of spotting out there. so we are seeing a little bit of drizzle across the bay area right now. not too much. this is just very light stuff. but you may want to bring an umbrella if you are about to head outside right now. i had to use my windshield wipers as i was coming into work this morning. we have low clouds, fog, as well. so kind of similar story to yesterday. it's really foggy across the bay area yesterday. took a long time to clear. so yeah, kind of mostly cloudy skies across the bay right now. temperatures mild in the 50s across the bay area. not really seeing any 40s out there so temperatures not too bad. we are going to be slightly above average this afternoon. so we'll warm up to the upper 50s, low 60s. once again, we are talking rain

or at least a shower. some light showers by later on this afternoon. a cold front is on approach so that low is heading towards the pacific northwest. we are going to catch the very southern end of this. so if you're in the north bay, that's where your rain chances are greater. south bay not likely at this point but you will at least see a few clouds. so yeah, we have not seen any kind of precipitation in quite a while. so it's definitely needed. out in lake tahoe if you are traveling going skiing there is kind of a rain-snow mix forecasted for today. so it may put a slight dent in the snow levels out there but most likely just a dusting. rain in eureka, redding. so highs today mostly in the 50s across northern california. closer to home we are going to warm up slightly. you can see a couple 60s out there, mainly in the south bay. 61 in san jose. 62 out in mountain view. and again, we do have a chance of rain for all of the bay area. it looks like about a 20 to 30% chance but those percentage

chances bump up quite a bit north of the golden gate. your five-day forecast, rain for today and then we're looking dry for the new year's eve and new year's day holiday. dry this weekend and it looks dry for the next several days with pretty seasonable temperatures even slightly above average by the middle of next week. we'll have more weather coming up. in the meantime, let's update traffic. here's gianna with more. with the rain comes slick surfaces so use caution. also dealing with some foggy conditions this morning for three bay bridges or three bay area bridges, rather. the bay bridge, san mateo bridge and the dumbarton bridge. now here's a live look at the bay bridge. the shot now is facing up the incline as you work your way on the upper deck. not a lot of volume on the freeways. it's actually better than yesterday. but limited visibility in some spots. hers a live look at the san mateo bridge. this advisory continues. still about 13 to 14 minutes to go between 101 and 880. and dumbarton bridge also under a fog advisory. in fact, we have a live shot. dumbarton bridge this morning and you can see traffic very foggy as you work your way between newark and san mateo

county. so give yourself some extra time. back to our maps. if you are work your way anywhere near the golden gate bridge no official advisory, but traffic very light. in fact, no cars coming through there and still quiet out of marin county. all right. we'll have a look at the south bay in just a few minutes. frank? >> all right, gianna. thank you much. 4:55 now. kids as old as 7 will still have to use booster seats in cars under a new state law that goes into effect on new year's day sunday. it replaces an old law that required booster seats only until age 6 or until a child weighs at least 80 pounds. the new law -- go ahead. >> it keeps kids in booster seats until they hit the age of 8 or height of 4'9." studies show the later age levels can reduced the risk of injury by 60% so an important law that goes into effect in the beginning of the year. >> you're having problems with your sight. >> my contacts are not working

for me. talk about 49ers. >> tickets are going on sale next week for a 49ers play-off game. >> fans are going to have to act fast if you want to get ahold of the tickets. a limited number will be available that go on sale tuesday at 10:00 in the morning. the team of says most of the season ticket holders have already purchased the play-off tickets. the 49ers will host a play-off game on either january 7, 8, 1 or 15 depending on whether they win in slough, 7, 8, 14 or 15. it depends on whether they win in st. louis this sunday. i guess they will do it again. they have a lot at stake. this is a unique perk for missouri city, texas, residents. they can go hiking and look for fresh produce at the same time. >> this is cool. the oyster creek trail is called an edible arbor trail. it has about 80 trees and plants growing everything from plums to pomegranites. >> as far as irrigation or pest control, we don't spray for

insects and things like that. we're not going to spend a lot of time out here trying to produce fruit. we are going to to let them do it on their own time. >> all the trees and plants along the trail require minimal pruning. it's made possible through volunteers, grants and corporate donations. holiday parties making time back. the changes you might see at your new year's eve bash. >> and a plan to solve the budget could spell disaster for local cities. how the state's victory will affect bay area projects. coming up. hundreds of bay area teenagers headed home today after a drug bust on a ski trip. that story coming up. the san jose police department dealing with an alarming rate this morning. the highest homicide rate in 15 years. that story coming up. ]?2ñ#ñeñhz

your realtime captioner is linda marie macdonald. people around me that were freaking out because they didn't know if they should turn it in or not. >> a drug bust on a bus full of bay area kids. the deal with police that let them off the hook. a grim milestone