your realtime captioner is linda marie macdonald. decision day in iowa. i'm susan mcginnis i des moines. the push to lure voters before the caucuses tonight. a firebug captured in l.a. good morning, it is tuesday, january 3. good to have you with us. i'm frank mallicoat. >> it's early, frank. don't worry about it. >> it is 4:30. very early. >> i'm grace lee. we start with traffic with gianna. >> we actually have fog advisories for our bay area bridges including the bay bridge, san mateo bridge, and the benicia bridge, carquinez bridge, as well. so use caution. limit visibility this morning. we'll get you a live shot of

the bridges in a few minutes. no accidents, lots of fog. >> visibility with the fog less than a quarter mile in some parts of the bay area but by the afternoon that's long gong. temperatures heating you want. the best day of the week, 70 tomorrow afternoon, cooling off into thursday. temperatures heating up. state dry into the weekend. just getting it going. >> can't push it to 70 yet? >> getting close. might be couple of places that top out. >> thank you. >> republicans will cast their first ballots in the 2012 presidential election. susan mcginnis joins us from des moines as candidates plan to stump until the final hour. good morning. reporter: just a few more hours left before the actual decisions are made tonight when folks start gathering at different areas and start the

actual voting process. today is all about grabbing the undecided voters and there's a huge number of them, more than 40% of iowa caucus-goers still have not decided who to choose to support or they say they are still willing to change their minds. that's what today is all about with final pitches and rallies and by the end of tonight, after the voting, we'll know who iowa wants. reporter: at a pact rally in iowa -- packed rally in iowa, mitt romney urged voters to turn out in full force for tonight's caucuses. >> with your help we'll do whatever it takes. let's get the nomination. let's become the next president of the united states. >> reporter: the former massachusetts governor is predicting he will win the critical contest and will clinch the republican nomination early. he has a slight lead over ron paul. >> the enthusiasm is growing by

leaps and bounds. >> reporter: but it's santa santa santa rick santorum who could pull off an upset in third place after a surge. he greeted crowds at five stops with the crowds growing larger at each event. >> trust what you have seen and heard. trust the interactions you had with the candidates. >> reporter: for months, candidates have been trying to win over republicans here in iowa and they spent more than $13 million on tv ads. still, more than 40% of voters here remain undecided. >> really, i think it comes down to the best person with the best credentials that can beat president obama. >> thank you. >> reporter: michele bachmann and rick perry hope to sway voters their way. as for one-time front-runner newt gingrich -- >> i don't think i'm going to win. >> reporter: he appeared to throw in the towel monday only to take it back. >> we may pull off one of the great upsets in the history of the iowa caucuses. >> reporter: the former house speaker is hoping for a big

enough comeback to keep him in the race. gingrich took some heat there for saying he didn't think he was going to which. at the end of the day it looks like three or four candidates could make it out of iowa and still have enough momentum and funding to move on. who wins is anybody's guess. >> we heard it's 14 degrees. do you think that will have any effect on turnout tonight? >> reporter: some people think because of the way the votes are splintered and how many people believe santorum is going to walk away with the nomination, that fewer people will turn out but others really say do not underestimate iowans when it's important, when they want to come out and vote their heart and that person that they think can beat president obama, don't underestimate that there will be turnout. >> all right, susan. we are going to do a glove check. do you have gloves on, just to make sure? [ laughter ] >> very good.

>> reporter: i have my heaters in here. >> stay warm in iowa. thank you. >> reporter: glove check, thank you. president obama is wasting no time getting back in front of the voters. the first family left hawaii last night following a 10-day vacation. they arrived in washington a few minutes ago. mr. obama will host a live web chat with supporters in iowa today. he will travel to cleveland for an event focused on the economy. jury selection begins today in the trial of an illegal immigrant accused of murdering a and two sons in san francisco. edwin ramos is said to have opened fire at the victims while sitting in traffic in the excelsior district in 2008. ramos believed to be a member of the ms-13 gang mistook one of the sons as a rival gang member. family and friends gathered last night to remember five- year-old gabriel martinez, jr., standing near a taco truck when

he was shot. the gunman was waiting for a food order when he pulled out the weapon. police don't have a motive or suspect and there is a $25,000 reward in the case. oakland might evict the last sign of the "occupy" protests at frank ogawa plaza a teepee and table remain at the site that was recently covered with tents but a notice from the city says that the teepee and table are attracting nuisancings and illegal activity and they must go. the protestors' legal representative objected and now the city is reconsidering. no bail for that suspect in a four-day arson spree down in l.a. 24-year-old german national was seen at fire scenes. he looks like a man spotted in some surveillance video. investigators are not commenting on reports birkhart made threats during a recent

deportation hearing for his mother. >> i'm not getting into details of statements he played. that information will be forthcoming but until we file the case, it would put the district attorney at a disadvantage for me to put that out. >> "l.a. times" reports he was connected with arson cases in germany and he has been in southern california now for several years. a prisoner in southern california made a bizarre escape by stealing a fire engine. thomas kelly is a convicted car thief worked as a firefighter in the donovan state prison in san diego. he was discovered missing sunday night from minimum security. sheriff's deputies spotted the fire engine being driven erratically a few miles from the prison but when they stopped the truckers the driver fled. beach-goers beware. crooks are riding a crime wave in the bay area. deputies and police are reporting a spike in break-ins up and down the coast. they say thieves will case the lot and watch for surfers where

they hide their keys. then they smash car windows and take what they can. lock all your stuff in the trunk before arriving at the beach. so they don't know exactly what you have. >> you never know. 4:38. let get you out the door with traffic and weather. gianna had a vacation yesterday and today, i guess you got to go to work. >> you're back to work today, that's for sure. and you're going to deal with fog on the roads. live look at the san mateo bridge or what you can make out of it there. yeah, very foggy conditions this morning. we have advisories for most of the bay area bridges, san mateo bridge and golden gate bridge. it's limited visibility as you cross the span. i checked traffic times. speeds okay out of marin county but again a little sluggish across the span into san francisco. the rest of the advisories are for the carquinez bridge to the maze, benicia bridge, san mateo bridge and the bay bridge this morning. lots of fog on the roads. >> visibilities down to a

quarter mile in many spots, an eighth mile in livermore now. outside the fog the real story this morning weather-wise. as we look toward candlestick park, it is quiet there this morning. but that fog should slowly lift throughout the morning hours and then by the afternoon, we are looking at a fantastic day ahead. plenty of sunshine coming our way. high pressure now building in overhead. you get the sense here high pressure starts rolling toward the coastline, look at that clockwise rotation as the system moves onshore, we'll see great weather over the next couple of days temperatures soaring into the afternoon. right now 44 concord, 50 san francisco, 43 in san jose. by the afternoon these temperatures soaring up into 50s and mid-60s in some of the warmest spots. it's just beginning of warmer weather. these temperatures soaring as high as 67 degrees on the hot end in some of the warmer spots today. by tomorrow close to 70 degrees by the afternoon. thursday those temperatures cool down a couple of degrees but over the weekend, looks like high pressure builds in. temperatures warm up and sunny and bright and still no rain on the way. that's a look at weather.

back to you. >> thank you. wednesday a hot day. thank you. 4:39 now. stocks open the new year today. why it's kicking off with a bang. >> plus, it could be a landmark ruling. one woman's legal battle with honda. >> and new rules at mavericks. what spectators will have to be willing to do to watch this world famous surf contest.

gil diaz is at the scene near the cal campus. a water main break causes a road in berkeley to buckle. gil diaz reports from the cal campus with more. reporter: the water should be on by now. e.b. m.u.d. capped the like. the crews have left the scene but left the barricades behind for a good reason. look at what happened here at this barricade. the pavement has buckled under water pressure. you can see it's probably lifted 5, 6" off the ground. looks like they have probably laid down some fresh asphalt

right here. looks really black right here. closer to the intersection of fulton and ban crot you will see that it looks like they may have put a fresh asphalt right here. this may have been the 15" sinkhole that we have been hearing about. now, no one was hurt in this incident and luckily no homes were affected. this leak happened around close to 6:00 yesterday afternoon. so it was going on for 24 hours. no homes affected. but about 10 businesses affected this time. i'm looking here at this intersection at the stores in the area. they were closed early yesterday afternoon before the break happened so no damages to them so far. but yeah, if you are going to be going through bancroft and fulton, be careful for these barricades. the water leak has been repaired. back to you. >> thank you, gil diaz. the markets begin the new year today. investors get new data on the housing market and the jobs

numbers. the unemployment rate is currently at 8.6%. today a los angeles woman is taking a unique road to sue honda over mileage. heather peters was originally part of a class action lawsuit against the automaker. the suit says the company falsely advertised the gas mileage of its hybrids. she is unhappy with the proposed settlement and launched a campaign online urging people to reject that offer. >> they are basically offering me $100 to $200 and a coupon towards my next honda. >> the maximum award in small claims court is up to $10,000. but if honda does lose it can appeal that case, taking it to superior court. red light cameras will be operating soon at a dangerous intersection in san francisco, the corner of masonic and fell street. 17 injury clashes in three years prompted muni to put in

the cameras. finesly $522 for red light runners caught on camera. a nonprofit in santa cruz believes it has a solution to eliminate a massive glob of garbage in the north pacific ocean. all the debris is rumored to be the size of texas. now, the clean oceans project is work on a plan to get rid of all that debris. the idea is to build a boat that can navigate through the junk piles, gobble up the plastic, feed it into on board cookers that convert the garbage into fuel for the boat. this is some youtube video coming upof a similar system of a japanese company. the fuel would power the boat as it moves along. >> what do you do with millions of pounds of slimy plastic? you don't want to put it into a landfill. >> the biggest problem may be finding all the trash, which is constantly moving and splitting apart in the vast ocean. but it's the size of texas, so can't be that hard to find... >> use a satellite or

something? >> huge thing of garbage? >> what an amazing solution to that huge problem. >> yeah. 4:45. a meteor shower lighting up the skies. tonight the best time to catch the display. >> plus, pinned to the ground violently kicking and scratching. how one girl survived a kangaroo attack. and a fiesta bowl thriller. how stanford's luck ran out at exactly the wrong moment. very foggy around the bay area this morning. lots of sunshine and some warm temperatures by the afternoon. we'll talk about that and the rest of your forecast coming up.

national park is closed today... after a gunman's body was found. mount rainier national park is closed today after a gunman's body was found in washington state. police found the body of benjamin barnes lying face down in the snow yesterday. they believe he shot and killed a park ranger and was also connected to a shooting near seattle. he was involved in a bitter custody battle over his young

daughter. his mother said he is suicidal and suffered from post- traumatic stress disorder. a dog was rescued from an icy lake. a woman saw a dog chase birds on a pond. one was stuck and she called for help. firefighters were able to pull the dog out of the water with some other dogs in colorado springs, colorado, watching nearby. vets say he should be fine. and some quick thinking and fast reaction by strangers saved the lives of three children in utah. an incredible story. this car with a family of three inside slid off an icy road and into the freezing river below. now, moments later a former police officer and department of defense contractor came upon the scene. now, three children trapped inside that car with the windows rolled up. >> we saw some ladies coming

towards us scream about kids. so i ran into the water and tried the father get into the vehicle. >> the man shout out the windows of the cars to reach the kids. one was pulled out immediately. the they are all home doing well. a 7-year-old girl in australia had an unpleasant start to the new year. she was attacked by a kangaroo. she is recovering from lacerations and bruises all over her body. you can see them on her face there. the kangaroo similar to this pinned her to the ground at a park sunday and began violently kicking and scratching her. >> very, very scared, i thought i was going to die. >> the girl's father helped to save her from that kangaroo

attack. >> oh, my goodness. >> love her accent. >> very cute. out the door with traffic with gianna to find out what's going on, on this -- what day are we, tuesday? >> tuesday. >> feels like monday because everybody is back to work today. we are dealing with fog on the freeways. here's a live look at traffic on the peninsula. very foggy this morning from 280, daly city, into san mateo. 101 near 92 foggy. on the bridges, here's the san mateo bridge you can barely make it out. they will lit up the caltrans signs this morning advising. heavy fog across the span there so still about 14 to 15 minutes between 880 and 101. drive times okay but foggy. over to the bay bridge, at the toll plaza, traffic still very light. no metering lights on. just a couple of cars approaching the pay gates, very foggy. across the span at the upper

and lower deck of the bay bridge. no word of construction. we'll update you on that. golden gate bridge now, fog advisory here, as well. looks like soupy conditions there out on the roads. that's traffic. here's lawrence with your forecast. >> yeah, foggy everywhere around the bay area this morning to start out this morning. some of those visibilities down to a quarter mile in livermore down to an 8th of a mile. be careful. near candlestick point you have some fog out there, as well. looks like it continues into the early-morning hours before it begins to lift and then i'll tell you what we're in for a fantastic day as high pressure moves overhead. get the sense clockwise rotation of the clouds here giving you a sense that that ridge is building into the bay area. that's going to make for great weather over the next couple of days. so yeah, latest weather headlines cloudy start to the day with that patchy, dense fog. sunny and warm, still no rain in sight even in the extended models throughout the next two weeks. right now nothing promising on

the horizon. temperatures around the bay area right now, 43 in napa with fog, 41 and low visibility into livermore. 43 san jose. 50 san francisco. i think if you travel around the state be careful this morning especially early on. that fog is dense in the sacramento valley. fog lifts in the middle of the morning. if you can wait a little bit it will be easier driving there morning. 62 by this afternoon with sunshine. 55 lake tahoe. 64 degrees in fresno. ridge of high pressure now building in very nicely. that is going to send the jet stream north. here comes the sunshine. enjoy it. can't change it. so we are going to enjoy sun and temperatures near 70 towards the next couple of days in some of the warmest spots. as high as 67 today in morgan hill. 65 mountain view. 63 redwood city. about 61 in hayward. east bay temperatures warming up after some patchy fog up into the 60s in most spots. gorgeous inside the bay, hazy sunshine this afternoon, temperatures in the 50s and

60s. next couple of days we get near 70 degrees by the afternoon into wednesday. on thursday, there's a weak storm system that's again going to move to our north just bringing us a couple of clouds but no rain. that will cool off the temperatures a couple of degrees and then we dry out and warm up again towards next weekend. >> it's serious. >> we haven't had rain for a long time so need to get it going. but sometimes when it's dry, the second half of the season is something else. we don't want to get it all at once. >> 40" of rain in february -- >> there could be issues. very dry winter in northern california so far and today, state water experts are going to find out how serious the situation might be. this morning, the state department of water resources will conduct the first snowpack survey. they are conducted monthly near echo summit in tahoe's south shore area. the survey is an indication of how the state's water supply is doing. locally the santa clara valley water district experts say it's

still too early in the season to be concerned. >> last february and march it rained almost every day here in the bay area. quite the show will light up the night sky tonight. starting around 11:00 there will be a meteor shower producing up to 100 falling stars an hour. but be prepared, it's expected to only last for a couple of hours tonight a little after 11:00. mavericks big wave surf contest is no longer free entertainment apparently. >> they are still work on the details but mavericks organizers say that spectators will have to pay this year to see the show. $25 tickets provide parking, admission and jumbo screen viewing and if you want to meet the surfers, that price starts at $100. >> the whole experience comes down to rubbing shoulders with these guys and being part of

it. they are half mile offshore trying to figure out what color he is looking straight into the glare. >> it is hard to see if you have ever been out there. here's one of the reasons why viewers are not allowed on the nearby beach. it's because of this rogue wave that knocked down more than a dozen spectators two years ago. it can get very dangerous with the massive wave. >> have you been out there before? >> i went out there to cover the surfer who was killed out there and so it's hard to see because the shore -- wave break is way out. >> you have to hike in. so the andrew luck era for stanford football has ended in a very heartbreaking way. >> is there a kicker in the house? they faced oklahoma state. the cardinal a chance to win in the final seconds but george williamson the kicker misses the 35-yard field goal and missed another in overtime. oklahoma capitalized made the game wingfield goal.

41-38 the final score. andrew luck had a terrific game and will likely be an indianapolis cold unless they trade the pick. it's the last stand for "occupy oakland." what the city is targetter at frank ogawa plaza. >> an arson suspect behind bars. why the l.a. mayor may not be the only place he targeted. a water main ruptured in berkeley. we'll tell you where it happened and show you the damage. that story coming up. it is it has taken nine years. the day is finally here. 49er post-season tickets go on sale but getting them won't be easy. the full story just ahead.

plus, an arson suspect.. under arrest in los angeles. new decision day in iowa. i'm susan mcginnis in des moines. coming up, the last push by republican candidates to lure over undecided voters before tonight's caucuses. an arson suspect under arrest in los angeles. new information about a possible mot