linda macdonald is captioning for you in real time. now at noon, budget cuts looming over a famed school within san francisco state university and students are not having it. good afternoon, i'm frank mallicoat. michelle is off. today an overflow crowd of students packed a meeting at san francisco state. they are upset about reports of deep budget cuts for the renowned college of ethnic

studies. kpix 5's jackie ward live at san francisco state with details on the fight to save [ indiscernible ] >> reporter: frank, some students told me that this problem has been years in the making and all started back in 2009. well, today students are voicing their opinions and trying to save their school. the meeting at sfsu today was packed with 300 students inside and 100 more spilled into the courtyard. due to budget cuts back in the 2009-2010 school year, come this fall the college may lose up to 40% of its staff. this lack of money for years is finally reaching a breaking point because the reserve fund the college has been using is gone. in a statement: be assured that no plan exists to reduce the yearly budget for any of our six colleges including the college of ethnic studies. while our budget for the university hasn't been finalized we expect this year's allocation to closely resemble

last year's. but that is not sitting well with students who feel like this field of study is imperative. >> i want to learn about my culture the i wasn't told about my race in high school and i have learned a lot through taking these courses. >> reporter: it is important to note that college of ethnic studies was born out of the 1969 student strike and protest for a more diverse curriculum. the student protests and strikes were violent and made national headlines. well, here we are almost 50 years later and now the school is at risk of going away completely. in san francisco, jackie ward, kpix 5. help has arrived for local fishermen and others devastated by the long delay in the dungeness crab season. kiet do explains how the federal government plans to assist them. >> reporter: with the commercial crab season still in limbo, jim anderson is now fishing for options.

starting today the u.s. small business administration is offering sessions to help fishermen and anyone else affected by the crab season delay like restaurants and stores with low-interest loans. the sba will crunch jim's expenses and will offer a loan at a 4% apr to cover housing, food, gas, whatever needs to stay afloat. you're right in time, too? >> correct. correct. and so these are haul-out. do i have the money to make sure i got enough fuel in the boat to go salmon fishing? it's nice to have that in the back of my mind whether i want to deal with them and take the loan out. >> reporter: 2015-'16 crab season has been delayed since november when crabs began testing positive for domoic acid a toxin that makes people sick or kills them. after months of waiting the recreational sporting season opened up but tests are still out for the commercial season. even if commercial crabbing is

cleared, will anyone eat it? better to get the paperwork going before it's too late. >> it's better to look into it and apply for it. if we don't know when we are going to own, you don't know how long away from now we're not going to have any income. >> reporter: the sba will be here at pillar point harbor giving help through the end of the day and then until 1 p.m. on friday. in half moon bay, kiet do, kpix 5. investigators are trying to determine if there's a link between a missing woman and a dismembered body found in fremont. shelly titchener of brisbane was reported missing by her husband more than a week ago. fishermen found the torso sunday night. and on tuesday, titchener's husband paul jumped to his death off the bay bridge. fremont police say paul titchener was a person of interest prior to his death. milpitas police have released a photo of one of the four suspects arrested in connection with a botched gun store burglary. 19-year-old jose fernandez of hayward was arrested yesterday along with three juveniles.

the target master store is next to the milpitas police station. so officers responded quickly when an alarm went off next door in the early-morning hours. the 17-year-old suspect couldn't get out of the building but was arrested after a long standoff with the police. san jose police want the public's help identifying burglary suspects captured on video. surveillance footage from last sunday morning shows two young men inside a parking garage on south bascom avenue. they allegedly forced open a lock on a storage unit and then made off with two bicycles. anyone who might have information that leads to an arrest and conviction could get a reward. high lead levels are found in drinking fountains at healdsburg elementary school according to the santa rosa "pressdemocrat." the fountains were shut off after it was detected around thanksgiving time. bottled water han been supplied to the -- has been supplied to the school since. school official wanted to wait until this week to inform the parents and the county health

department because they wanted to have a corrective plan in place. a brush fire that broke out in malibu today is prompting evacuations. the fire started around 3 a.m. in some steep terrain three miles north of the pacific coast highway. about 20 acres have burned so far and helicopter crews are now making water drops. today as a precaution 120 kids were moved out of a camp and people left homes, as well. today we will find out just how well californians are conserving water during the multi-year drought. the state water resource control board will provide the numbers for january. governor brown has ordered everyone to use 25% less compared to 2013. but water users fell short of that target for three months last fall. just in, apple is asking a judge to vacate the order requiring they hack into an iphone used by the san bernardino gunman. earlier today, fbi director james comey commented on the

dispute before the house intelligence committee. >> there are no demons in this dispute or the larger dispute. apple is very cooperative but they weren't willing to offer the relief the government was demanding. >> tim cook the ceo of the company wants the focus to be on privacy. >> what is at stake here is can the government compel apple to write software that we believe would make hundreds of millions of customers vulnerable around the world including the u.s.? >> meanwhile the "new york times" reports apple engineers are developing software that would make it impossible to hack into a locked iphone. that new technology would keep customer data safe but it would be a big roadblock for law enforcement. they are expected to testify march 1 at a congressional hearing on encryption issues. today a man said to be on president obama's short list for the supreme court said he is not interested in the job. governor brian sandoval of nevada does not want to be

nominated. the president reportedly was considering sandoval a moderate republican and a former judge who supports abortion. but now that option is out. the president is trying to fill the vacancy left by the death of justice antonin scalia. tonight the remaining five republican presidential hopefuls will face off in their tenth debate. this time it will be held in houston. and today past candidates call out front-runner donald trump. cbs reporter weijia jang has more from washington. >> reporter: mitt romney is calling on donald trump to release his tax returns. >> frankly i think we have good reason to believe that there's a bombshell in donald trump's taxes. every time he is asked about his taxes, he dodges and delays and says, well, we're working on it. >> reporter: trump took to twitter this morning calling romney one of the dumbest and worst candidates in republican history. and he said he will release his returns when he is ready. >> my returns are extremely complex and i'll make a determination at the right time. i'm in no rush to do it.

nobody's been bringing it up except for mitt romney. >> reporter: romney isn't not the only one pushing. ted cruz chimed in at a presidential candidates forum hosted by the kelly file on fox news. >> i think mitt has a good point that the voters are entitled to know before they both because you better believe the democrats will go to town on this if there's anything in there. >> reporter: ted cruz and marco rubio have the most to gain from a trump stumble. both think they are the best alternative to trump, who they claim is not a true conservative. >> the front-runner in this race donald trump is actually alluded to the fact that he thinks parts of obamacare are pretty good. >> reporter: new polls show cruz leading in his home state of texas by 15 points in some polls while trump leads rubio in his home state of florida by 16. weijia jang, cbs news, the white house. >> texas is the biggest prize on super tuesday with 155 delegates at stake. well, you have heard of the sillicon valley. what about the silicon prairie? the surge of tech in our

country's heart land is coming up and surf's up on the north shore why this rare competition has such a special meaning. >> from the kpix 5 weather center, good afternoon, everybody. i want you to take a good look at our live weather camera and see all those high, thin clouds. those clouds are running in advance of a storm. i'll tell you how to will affect your friday as the news continues. ,,,,,,,,

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the government reports unemployment applications re by 10-thousand last week...o 272-thousand. lets check the big board ane how wall st is fairing this weekly unemployment numbers are up. unemployment was up by 10,000 last week to 272,000. checking wall street on the big board, it's a good day for a thursday. good day any day up 150 plus points at this hour. well, it's in the name and soon j.c. penney will actually start

selling some merchandise for one penny. the retailer is unveiling a new slogan called get your penney's worth. the deal will involve its house brands. this is j.c. penney's latest effort to turn around declining sales. new cash crop is growing across the great plains. high-tech. some are calling it the silicon prairie. it stretches from des moines iowa to kansas city to lincoln, nebraska. there's been an explosion of startup software companies there. among them, boo lou box a monthly service providing samples of premium health products. the founder couple decided to launch it in 2012. but first they had to leave san francisco. >> we can just be another startup on the west coast in the valley, or we can be part of this movement in the midwest. >> it felt like people in nebraska, investors or just other connections, would bend over backwards to help you. >> another competitive edge, everything is much cheaper. the median house in san

francisco sells for $1.1 million. in lincoln, nebraska, it's about $158,000. the largest container ship in the united states back at port in oakland today. the benjamin franklin is more than 1300 feet long and is as wide as a football field. this is its second visit to oakland. the ship's first stop was on new year's eve. it will remain in the port of oakland overnight and then head north for seattle tomorrow. a rarely held surfing competition is going on right now in hawaii. the event on the north shore of oahu is in memory a surfer and lifeguard happening for the first time since 2009 but it only happens when the waves are consistently clean and reach heights of at least 40 feet. more than 2 dozen surfers are competing. so it's kind of their version of mavericks, i guess, with a little hawaiian flair. >> they canceled it a few weeks ago because it wasn't as clean. i think they need to send this reporter on location to hawaii! [ laughter ] let's check in with our

weather watchers to see what's happening in and around our microclimates. 60s and 70s. 72 degrees so says dana and dana, she is in novato. this afternoon, she says getting out there and doing it. that's some yardwork. thanks, dana, for that report. a few high, thin clouds. otherwise lots of blue skies, temperatures already above average for this time of the year. check it out. 69 in concord and san jose. mid-70s around the tri-valley all the way north to the santa rosa area. it's currently 64 in oakland. here's what you need to know for this thursday. again, a few high, thin clouds. temperatures up to 14 degrees above average. and then we do have some light rain on friday if you want to call it that. more like raindrops but hopefully it will settle the pollen around. if you are sneezing and wheezing blame it on the blooming alder, ash and juniper. futurecast illustrates that this area of low pressure to the north of the bay area is trying to bump up against that ridge of high pressure and squash it so it can make a

nosedive into the bay area. but all it's going to do is sideswipe our region. take a look at futurecast. look at this, it looks a little promising. the return of the onshore push by tomorrow morning's commute and then this does not look so promising. this is the frontal boundary and with each computer model, it's falling apart more and more and more. here you have that leading edge of the front. here's friday 4:00. it's really slowed down now but by the time it moves into santa rosa falling apart, concord hit and miss scattered rain and now these are the anemic rainfall totals. at first we were hoping at least for a tenth in santa rosa. now it looks like unde .5 -- looks like under .05." a chance of snow through kirkwood over the weekend. there's your sundown tonight at 5:59. it cools off rapidly after reach highs today up to 78 degrees. that will be in gilroy where yesterday was 77. okay. just a few raindrops tomorrow. that's about it. a chance of more raindrops on

sunday night. and cooler sunday, only to rebound to, whatter weather monday through wednesday. >> so just a smidge. not a lot. >> not a lot. >> all right. so we better keep conserving, huh? >> there you go. good idea. way to go. that leads into our next story because we're not doing a very good job. californians missed the mandated 25% water cuts in january. more work to do in our drought emergency. and final preps are under way for sunday's academy awards in l.a. the red carpet was rolled out today at the dolby theater. the lights, the bleachers, statues, already in place. they just need the stars come sunday. it's proof even the president had to start somewhere on linkedin. president obama just posted about his first job working at a baskin-robbins ice cream shop part of his announcement of a new program to help young people experience their first jobs. summer opportunity project involves community leaders nonprofits and private businesses. still ahead, finding the hit end genius in some east bay kids. how one man is helping to mold the tech leaders of the future

when we come back. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

well, today's tip of the day is going to be is dragon fruit. look at dragon fruit. looks like a dragon, doesn't it? it is so beautiful. they look great. even though they could look intimidating. but you cut it in half, get a spoon and you just eat the dragon fruit like that. the texture and the sweetness is out of this world. but selection and storage is very important. when you buy your dragon fruit, the beautiful bright red color

all the way around is very important. free from any decaying or blemishing. heavy for their size is also extremely important. when you bring them home, although you think about putting them in the refrigerator, no. store them on the counter. shelf life is not that long, 3 to 4 days after you buy them. otherwise they will start to decay. the dragon fruit, in the market, they smell good and they taste even better. if you never tried one, you got to give them a try. i'm tony tantillo, your fresh grocer. and always remember to eat fresh and stay healthy. aren't they just beautiful? look at that! thanks, tony. the next big tech idea could be percolating right now in an oakland classroom and chances are good it's because of this week's jefferson award winner recognizing the hidden genius behind it. here's allen martin with more. >> nice. okay. >> reporter: at 6'9", brandon nicholson towers over these teenagers he is helping and in a suit and tie, he can seem pretty analytical. >> i would say to run a nonprofit, you still want to

run it like a business. >> reporter: but he is not all business with these kids. [ laughter ] >> reporter: raised in oakland, brandon went to college at princeton then got his ph.d. at cal. now the 32-year-old is back in oakland on a mission to help black teenaged boys. in 2012, he was brought in as founding executive director of hidden genius project. the nonprofit uses volunteer mentors to train young men in computer coding, entrepreneurship and leadership. hidden genius sees black teenaged boys as having limitless futures but they are vastly underserved. >> so we're in for -- >> the idea was to get at those young men and help them engage and recognize the potential they have that they might see as hidden. you want to see the code? >> reporter: it helps about 20 boys at a time. it's free and so is the laptop computer that each one gets. but the teenagers have to commit to 15 months of weekly classes as well as two summer

sessions. >> you got an idea? >> i have some ideas. >> reporter: the goal isn't to simply train more computer programmers. it's to tap into a boy's potential for a better life. >> even before they grow up, so to speak, to begin having more opportunities to earn money but also to take ideas that they have and turn them into something to build things that matter to them and their communities. >> i don't really know where i would have learned the skills i have learned here anywhere else cuz i had already wondered, like, where am i going to go with this interest of mine? so it was really great that i found this place. >> reporter: while expansion may be in the future for hidden genius, brandon's pretty happy with how it's going right now. >> on sunday evening, i'm looking forward to monday and i no longer get that sunday evening pit in my stomach which is pretty nice. [ laughter ] >> good job. keep building on that. >> reporter: so for helping black teens find a limitless future this week's jefferson award in the bay area goes to brandon nicholson. allen martin, kpix 5.

>> and at the end of the program, each teenager comes away with a fully functional app as well as the skills to market and launch it in the marketplace. can't beat that. and you can volunteer and help the hidden genius kids, too. check out the link in our story online at cbssf.com/hero. we'll be right back. ,,,,

banned rolling block slides. we're in arizona with reactn from oakland a's players cog up on kpix 5 news at 5:00. spring training in full swing. major league baseball has been rolling block slides. we are in arizona with reaction from the oakland a's players. that's coming up on kpix 5 news at 5:00 and a whole bunch more, too. so. can't take out the second baseman unless you're going for the bag. that's the deal. >> right. it feels like spring. >> i know! it's beautiful out there. >> i know. you know, we know we need the rain. we're not going to see it so might as well say enjoy your day. >> i am going to give you the rest of the day off. see you tomorrow. captions by: caption colorado comments@captioncolorado.com

>> steffy: hello? who is this? >> liam: [ groans ] adam. who is this? hello? >> steffy: uh... um, i -- i think i misdialed. >> quinn: oh! hey! hey! that must be for me. i forgot my -- my phone. um, hello? >> steffy: quinn? quinn, is that you? >> quinn: yes, yes. speaking. >> steffy: it's -- it's steffy. sorry. i was thrown for a second. i thought i dialed the wrong number. >> quinn: uh, no, no. no, uh, but i could see why. >> steffy: hey. wyatt told me that you have a new guy in your life. was -- was that him? >> quinn: mm-hmm.