gays and lesbians. the ruling will be announced electronically, the judge will not guilty hold a hearing. two same-sex couples are trying to under go the ban. stay with ktvu for complete coverage. that ruling on the constitutionality of proposition eight comes down sometime tomorrow. now to what you might call a national block party. the idea is to bring neighbors together because the more united a neighborhood, the less likely the crime will be able to grow there. ktvu's sal castaneda live tonight in oakland where in that city alone there are hundreds of parties being held tonight, sal. >> frank, the party here in the fruitvale district has just gotten under way. as you mentioned, a lot of block parties in oakland, here the point is to introduce neighbors and merchants to each other. national night out is a block party that is observed in communities across the country.

>> it happens in all 50 states, and we in oakland are very proud that this year we have over 450 parties within our city. >> we're fed up. >> reporter: the party is being held by safe storage which is providing food and refreshment. they say it's a way to encourage residents and merchants to band together. >> this is our fifth year holding the function at our location. >> reporter: police and community organizers hope the simple act of taking in a block party will encourage people to take a bigger stake in their neighborhood. many say joining together sends a message to criminals. >> i don't think it's just the criminals that sees that element but it's the people that band together as well, when you unite, you're stronger. >> reporter: abella is a business owners in the fruitvale district. >> we're more apt to do something against something

that is wrong when there's numbers. >> reporter: while many say block parties may not help tonight, others are still upset about the police lay offs. >> there's always something happening, people getting robs, because there's not enough cops out here for us. >> reporter: now this is a nationwide event, last year some 36 million people came out across the country to participate, organizers say they hope for more than that number this year. sal castaneda, ktvu. another national night out celebration is under way at richmond. chopper2 is bringing you the festivities of the night out outside of target. city officials will visit more than 20 neighborhoods there in richmond. now east palo alto meanwhile is expanding it's

annual celebration of national night out with its own parade for the first time. the procession should be getting under way at this time. it started on bay road and will pass by several block parties before ending at joel park tonight. >> you can follow all the block party, go to ktv u.com and look under the ktvu right now section. and police say they netted $100 million woát of counter fit items -- $100 million worth of counter fit items. >> reporter: police seized counter fit goods that were set for sale. >> this is the largest counter fitting case i.c.e. has ever conducted against retailers in the west coast. >> reporter: with the golden

gate bridge as a backdrop, i.c.e. this morning offered up a fashion show of seized goods. chanel purses, gucci and prada products. there were also ed hardy jeans. >> counter fitting badly undermines the u.s. economy. it robs americans of jobs, it stifles invasion, and it promotes crime. the investigation began in december 2007 when inspectors at the port of oakland intercepted what they call a suspicious shipping container bound for a fisherman ward's store. that led to a two year undercover operation in which agents raided eight different warf stores. mullad's store is next to one

of the alleged counter fitting store. >> a lot of times they ask me if my items are the real thing. i have to prove myself. >> if i'm going to buy something that has the name brand for example coach, i'm going to go to a coach dealer. >> reporter: while some say buyer beware, others say counter fit goods are a good buy. >> i thought it was really pretty, and i couldn't afford the real one, so i've gotten bags like that. >> reporter: two illegal immigrants have been indicted for smuggling and trafficking of counter fit goods. reporting live in san francisco, david stevenson. san francisco officials announced today that they have pulled together enough funds to restore much of the munni service that was cut due to budget constraints.

nummi plans to restore 61% of the service hours slashed last may. that includes offering out service every half hour and putting extra trolley cars back into service. mayor newsom says funding will come from regional transportation sources and by reorganizing driver schedules, but newsom says that the service cuts could have been avoided if the drivers could have come to an agreement. >> due to the unwillingness of the drives to contribute like all other public personnel have contributed. >> reporter: munni hopes to restore all service cuts by next summer. it was another rough day for passengers who defend on ac transit buses, even though a judge ruled in favor of uc tran social security drivers, 150 of them called in sick again

today. ktvu's rob roth is back tonight in oakland with more of what's going on here, rob. >> reporter: ac drivers may have scored a victory in court yesterday, but for passengers today they say it was the same old service. here in oakland's working class fruitvale district, ac transit riders say they've been waiting long for service. >> reporter: how was service today? >> kind of bad. >> reporter: why? >> i don't know, it's kind of slow. >> reporter: 150 drivers called in sick today. that's about the same amount than when the union was doing a

sick out. the superior court judge threw out the new contract that was imposed on them but gave them until next tuesday to implement the new contract. >> the schedule remains the same. >> reporter: with the loss in court, ac transit now has at least two key decisions to make. one is whether to appeal a deci how to make up the $300,000 it says it will lose by having to reinstate the old contract. >> if we are forced to impose the judge's ruling and rule the contract back, there will be significant cuts to ac transit that most likely will mean the end of weekend service. >> i don't think right now weekends will get cut, i don't think so. >> why? >> because it hasn't been in the plan. >> reporter: the clear losers in this labor strike are the riders. >> he's got to go to school, kids t -- kids, an the parents have to go to work. it's pretty ridiculous. >> reporter: the two sides are

set to begin arbitration later this month, a process that could take months to resolve. reporting live in oakland, rob roth, ktvu channel 2 news. new figures suggest a gradual recovery may be on the way for a recovery. ford reported flat sales, many foreign based companies like kia, honda reported a gain. those positive sales numbers from the auto industry weren't enough to lift stocks today. disappointing news on consumer spending and home sales helped put the stock market's big rally on hold after yesterday's big gain. the dow fell 38 points to close

at about 10,236. for the latest financial and consumers news, go to ktvu.com and click on the business tab. a bay area online group plans to help wikileak cover the legal expenses for an army intelligence analyst. manning is accused of leaking secret documents and video of the war in afghanistan. the manning support of oakland says it plans to pay half of the estimated $100,000 to provide manning with a defense attorney. wikileak officials have not acknowledged that manning was the source of the material they posted but they say they will contribute to his defense. nine people are dead after a gunman went on a shooting rampage. police say a shooter killed eight people before shooting himself this morning at the hartford beer distribution

company. one witness says thorton was cool, calm and cold as ice during the shooting. at least three people were injured, one is reported to be in critical condition. >> it happened at the worse part of date. because you have the second shift coming on. the sales staff there, it couldn't have happened at a worse time. >> reporter: a union official says thornton was caught on video stealing beer and was being forced to reseen. the mother of thornton's girlfriend says thornton had complained of being racially harassed. and a procedure that could permenantly plug the broken oil

well, the latest on that. and i'll have your latest conditions. coming up

work will continue in petaluma tomorrow to repair a busted line that caused the road to buckle between western avenue and east washington street. the water department tells ktvu that the old water line gave out due to normal wear and tear. on the gulf coast tonight, bp has finally launched it's static kill strategy. i want to show you live pictures of the work being done, if we have those. maybe we don't have those right now. but three months after the leak there's new hope that this effort will plug the well. >> reporter: crews are pumping mud into the head of that blown

out oil well. thad allen called the effort a positive step forward. using the relief well that's being drilled right now. >> it's been a long time drilling the casing pipe from below, filling that with mud and filling that with cement is the solution to all of this. there should be no ambiguity about that. >> we have long term impacts, we need to be sobered by the fact that while the oil has stopped and we're not dealing with a day-to-day threat, we need to assess a long term impact on our ecology. >> reporter: today bp announced

a new team will speedily release payment to those affected. >> this government will not walk away from the obligations to continue protecting the coastline. continue cleaning up the damage that has been done. billing bp for that damage. >> reporter: now this latest work could be complete by tonight or tomorrow. these pictures that you see here of that underwater camera. new numbers from a federal task force now show that about 206 million-gallons of oil flowed from that well between april and mid-july. more than 33 million-gallons were contained, but that left more than 170 million that escaped into the gulf. until that temporary cap stopped the flow last month. based on those numbers, bp could be fined about $5 billion under the clean water act.

a wildfire burning in central oregon has now grown to 600 acres. fire officials say strong winds have caused the flames to spread quickly putting about 20 homes at risk, no word on what caused that fire. knock on wood here, because so far we haven't had a big fire here in the bay area. we had them in oregon, down in southern california, but bill as you've been mentioning, the weather has been good for firefighters. >> we've seen fires to the north, fires to the south, fires to the east of the bay area. many of those fires have not lasted. but the big fires in the bay area have not happened because the weather has been cool. and here we are, with temperatures in the warmest valley just in the upper 80s. we expect mid-90s this time of year. we really had no heat wave to speak of that would bring us a

red flag warning. the fog is shooting in. the fog will be in tonight. temperatures today warmer than they were yesterday by a couple of degrees. the fog will be back in your neighborhood tomorrow morning, and it'll clear back to the coast on wednesday. the extended forecast is for continued -- stop me if you've heard this before. continued mild weather. not st this week but into the long range forecast. what we're dealing with now is subtle changes. how quickly will the fog cool down in your house? will the temperature be 88 or 86 or 82. the temperatures are subtle because this high pressure is not where it should be. when it sets south own east of here we get the cooler weather. you can see the cool weather bite as it pushes into the bay. temperatures tomorrow are going to be mostly in the 60s, 70s, and you'll find your 80s in the interior valley. that's just how it goes.

this is what i've been showing you now all summer long. i can't remember a summer like this. 18 years in this market, i can't remember a summer that we had so many days they were so mild. frank, julie, we've all talked about it. anyone who grew up around here, this is unusual. 89-degree in the valleys tomorrow. that's out toward oakley and rio vista. we are not seeing spare the air days. last year by this time we had easily five spare the air days, maybe six. those are not happening because of this weather pattern. i'll have your weather coming up. we'll have a look at things that may change this pattern in the next day or so. >> see you then, thanks. parol officials are making

changes in the department. now the new policy will require agents to meet with family members, counselors and perspective employers before and after the parolee is released. the task force behind these changes were formed after a parol agent failed to discover

that a sex offender was hiding a kidnapped girl in his backyard. and your favorite bottle of wine might soon get more expensive. the new fee one bay area city is considering. an eruption in the sun with rays heading toward the earth. we're talking to scientists about illuminations at night. and the items that may no longer be allowed at your favorite neighborhood stores. why this afternoon could pave the way for big change, including sales taxes, pensions and other issues in the south bay. tonight on ktvu channel 2 news at 6:00.

several projects in the bay area being targeted in a report

highly critical of stimulus spending. the projects are included in president obama's stimulus package. but john mccain says the projects are wasteful, mismanaged and failed to exceed in job creation. an ant study being created by the academy of sciences in san francisco is number six in the coburn-mccain list of projects considered wasteful. the scientists have received thousands of dollars to study if ants. >> it was supposed to create jobs, it does not. >> also included in the report is a uc berkeley study that is using half a million dollars in stimulus funds to research

neptuns atmosphere. a white house spokesperson called the report not credible and he opponented out that an advisor of mccain's own presidential campaign recently said that the economic stimulus created a far more severe economic downturn. federal republicans and democrats today lined up on either side of the confirmation side over president obama's supreme court nominee. today was the final debate over whether kagan should take a seat on the high court. senators were deeply divided along party lines. >> kagan not only has the necessary qualifications, but has also demonstrated the respect for the rule of law. her appreciation for the

representation of powers. >> i don't think it's a secret, i believe she believes in the power of judges to expand the law and visions of what the judge may think is best for america. >> despite the partisan debate. the senate is expected to confirm kagan in a vote later this week. the price of your favorite beer or wine may go up in san francisco. the money raised would help cover some of the city's $17 million in alcohol related health care cost. higher proof alcohol would carry a higher fee. supporters say it would add about a nickel to the cost of the average drink. opponents say it would be much more than that. give a drink to a minor and you could soon find yourself in big trouble if something happens as a result.

a law that will hold adults liable for injuries, deaths or damage caused by minor drinkers. oakland police are asking your help to find the man that was captured on camera robbing a bank. i'm rita williams in oakland, it's that time of the year for the beginning of student sports. coming up we'll show you how to protect your child. i think safety and security -- >> he is talking about this, the new body scanner that is in use today at a bay area airport. [ male announcer presenting the cadillac "summer's best" sales event.

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>> we walked with his coach, the coach said he wasn't feeling good while playing football. a few seconds after that he passed out. tragedy on the football field as a coach watches a young player collapse and die during practice. it was the first practice of the season for the 11-year-old boy's northern california team. and the sudden death of a seemingly healthy child has stunned that community and raised questions. ktvu rita williams is live now in oakland with more on this for us, rita -- >> reporter: heather, the east bay warriors is just beginning practice. unfortunately, as fall sports begin, we hear players without prior medical problems dying on

the field. >> it's devastating, my own son is a player on the team. my reaction as a parent is what if it were my son. >> reporter: the boy who died, andrew jacob lampier was just 11 years old. his grandfather said this player was taken just before he got a haircut to donate his hair for kids with cancer who need wigs. >> he walked to his coach. he said he wasn't feeling well. just a few seconds after that he passed out and they lost his heartbeat. they brought him back, they lost him. they brought him back about

three times. >> andrew's brother said he was a great brother and he will miss him a lot. >> reporter: family practitioner dr. constantine is busy this time of the year doing student physicals. here for 18-year-old molina keeton who is going to play college basketball. he starts by asking about family history. >> if a kid can't run up and down two flights of stairs, it has to be a red flag to do more testing. >> reporter: but he says sometimes you can't find hiding killers that may cause them to die on the field. >> if you can improve their lives, i go home feeling much

better. >> reporter: doctors say fear of having a hidden killer or undetected heart disease should not keep children like these out here from playing sports. rita williams, ktvu channel 2 news. bay area music fans are mourning the death of a local musician who was killed after their touring bus crashed. the band early graves lead singer was ejected from the bus. oakland police are asking for the public's help in solving two attempted bank robberies. investigators say this man was the suspect in two attempted robberies that both took place on july 17th. the targets were both oakland branches of wells fargo bank, one of franklin the other on

40th. the suspect is described as a black man, 5'10" to 6'tall weighing 250 pounds. despite the controversy about showing too much, full body scanners have now arrived at oakland international airport. this is the future of airport security, and jade hernandez takes us through one to see what it's like. >> reporter: russell simmons and his family are heading on vacation. and he was not surprised to see the scanners being used. >> i don't have a problem with it. >> reporter: his wife was not so comfortable with it. >> i think we should have more debate. >> reporter: tsa will install

four more units right here in oakland in the fall. one of the two types of the controversial full body scanners used. back scatter x-rays like this one the other uses electromagnetic waves. passiers hold their heads above their head -- passengers hold their heads above their heads. >> sounds like a necessary evil, on the other hand an invasion of privacy. >> reporter: each imagine is deleted before the next passenger is scanned. oakland international director says agents can now search for weapons and explosives without contact with passengers. a scan equals a two minute

plane flight at altitude. >> the technology is safe. >> reporter: in oakland, jade hernandez, ktvu channel 2 news. and it's called laura's law, named after a teenager who was killed by a mentally ill man who refused treatment. up next, we'll show you where san francisco stands right now in adopting that law. we'll tell you what cancer cells make tumors spread. what this droid does will change how you do movies.

with blockbuster on demand, this does hit films on a 4.3-inch screen so big, the way you see them will never be the same. introducing the new droid x. pre-loaded with blockbuster. the next generation of does.

we have just about two weeks until school is back in session. san francisco is stepping up its efforts to prevent students from skipping school. school officials say they will continue to try to contact parents of students who miss school and say they're even prepared to take legal action against parents and students if necessary. laura's law is named for a young woman who was killed by a

psychiatric patient who denied treatment. it passed legislator but each county must approve whether they want to adopt it. >> if they say, i need help. my son or daughter are going to kill themselves. maybe they've been pulled in against their will for 72 hours on multiple occasions. >> some supervisors argue the bill would be too costly. android phones are gaining ground on iphones. they made a 27% of u.s. smart phone sales this year so far. while iphones accounted for 23%. other research finds that android sales jumped more than

800% over a year ago. the iphone though still dominates the worldwide smart phone market with 28% of the share android's account for 13%. a new smart phone hit the market today, research in motion unveiled its new blackberry torch this morning. it has a touch screen and keyboard that slides out. research in motion already holds nearly 42% of the smart phone market, nearly double that of its main competitor apple. but blackberry's has stalled looking for more ways to make their lead. ucla researchers said pancreatic cancer cells were grown in lab dishes and fed them fructose. researchers hope to use the findings to develop a new drug

that will keep tumors from using fructose. what is the best way to loose lose weight? is it by reducing fat or carbs. those on the carb diet had improved blood pressure and a better increase in good cholesterol compared to those who cut down on fat. what's killing sea otters? a new report suggests there is something wrong with the waters off our coast. a troubling sign. and more of the same today when it comes to our weather. look at that fog bank right off the coast of california. our chief meteorologist bill martin back with the forecast in just a moment. new at 6:00, a plasma

eruption in the sun. with remnants headed to the earth. we're talking with researchers about its effect on everything from satellites to illuminations at night. also at 6:00, a new twist on an old ban. the items that may no longer be allowed at your favorite grocery stores. plus, why this afternoon could pave the way for big change, including sales taxes, pensions and other the south bay. tonight on ktvu channel 2 news at 6:00. ñ

federal biologists today recorded that something is killing off endangered california sea otters. numbers have declined significantly in the past three years and researchers are trying to find out why. john fowler is live in monterey with more on this. >> reporter: they are the icons of the northern california coast. we've been watching a couple of sea otters feed here on this patch of calp on the shore. they are a good indicator of ocean health. california sea otters are again

at the edge of survivor from the high of 15,000 today just 2,070 remain. down about 4% last year. the young and mothers hit hardest. >> these reproductive females who should have low levels of mortality, we see them dying at a very large number. that tells us that something is wrong. >> reporter: exactly what's wrong remains a mystery. it's likely a combination of el nino storms, less kelp, more shark attacks. plus human contaminants. this pup was rescued. >> this little animal behind us here consumes about 25% of her

body weight per day. and invertebrate food items. >> they roll and play, what more can you ask for. >> they are just cute and you just want to hold them. they are like little puppies. >> reporter: sea otter populations have declined before. but experts do not think this is part of a natural cycle. >> i tend not to think so. i think this otter is telling us something about this shore ecosystem. >> reporter: scientists look at otters for bigger ocean problems. >> that will help us figure out what problems we are facing. >> reporter: biologists say they should know what if anything humans can do to save these remarkable animals. reporting live, health and science editor, john fowler, ktvu news. fishing industry leaders from california to the east coast met with the nation's top fishery analysts in washington, d.c. today to discuss problems

in the law system. the u.s. commerce department recently released a report that charts the national oceanic organization of misspending and levying questionable funds. they've then implements better systems to list fines. a huge airline declared bankruptcy today. we look at the impact it'll have on flights and passengers. radio communication stopped, what scientists are saying tonight about a solar maximum and the possibility that it could hit earth in the next few years. thousands of people all over the bay area coming together tonight with one purpose in mind. those stories and more coming up next at 6:00. there's a new place to host your next big party in oakland, the kaiser rooftop garden is now available for events such

as weddings. isn't it pretty. it's a 3.5 acres of manicures flower beds and ponds. the space had only been open to the public during business hour, but starting today, the building is allowing two companies to produce events in the space which also has indoor areas. >> what a little oasis up there. we showed you that live picture a moment ago. that big fog bank off the coast there. we see the fog come in, where it goes and where it doesn't go. >> yeah, it all depends on the topography. as you look now, there's twin peaks is under all of that. you see that little dip right behind downtown. that's about twin peaks right there, there's some topography playing into it. the fog is back in your forecast. this is what we're looking at

right here. we were looking at the fog in twin peaks. they're kind of over it, a lot of folks, because it's been a foggy, foggy, foggy summer and it's going to continue that way this week. the cooler air stays with us as this system lingers. it does reduce the fire danger, we talked about that earlier. it also gives us cool air quality. temperatures are cooler than they should be for this time of year. as we walk through the microclimates tomorrow, mid-60s in richmond. mid-70s out toward oakland and berkeley. low 80s where you get to the places where you should have mid-90s. not exact, just a broad brush going out. but you can see once you're west of antioch, it is much much cooler. that fog is really penetrating and so tomorrow you'll see it right here. there's that, there's the cool footprint, that's tomorrow's forecast high and that's the

moist marine air. we go out there, you go east about 20-mile, 40 miles there's the heat. you go up to red bluff and redding, it's been plenty hot out here. freemont central park right there, if you've ever been there, beautiful spot. 65degrees at lunchtime, 76- degree daytime high for freemont. good air quality with this. you go all the way to mount diablo you can see the sierra nevada. i was at the top of mount diablo the other day and i for the first time saw mount shasta, it was a couple of weeks ago. but you can, you can see mount shasta from the top of mount diablo, air quality has to be really good. and they are. firefighters, the men and the women i know you like this because you notice the trucks aren't open. this time of year they are standing down. they are not on high high alert

which is great for those folks. >> thanks bill. it caused a political uproar about political freedom. today a decision was made about building a mosque near ground zero in new york city.

there's still a little time for you to take a tour of the

transbay terminal. there's an open house going on tonight until 7:00. the new facility will serve as a bay area transit hub for about seven years or until the new transbay terminal is built on mission street. the old transbay terminal will close this saturday. a controversial plan to build an islamic mosque near ground zero in new york was revealed today. >> 9-0 in favor of the removing this building from the landmark preservation commission calendar. >> reporter: the landmark's preservation commission decided that this building does not qualify as a landmark. the ruling paves the way for the ruling of an islamic center as mosque just blocks from

ground zero. opponents say it's disrespectful for the victims of the 9/11 attack. >> it should be about our heros and victims, not about lifting islam. >> that means allowing a group of moderate muslims to see what they see fit of a building they bought of their own accord >> the anti defamation league has asked the mosque be moved farther away from ground zero. >> keep it right here, there is much more just ahead. ktvu channel 2 news is just minutes ahead. i'm consumer editor tom vacar, the latest on the disorder both sides of the border, still ahead.

a major league tax hike. getting to know your neighbors, why millions of the people around the country are gathering to do just that tonight. what they hope to accomplish. good evening everyone i'm heather holmes in tonight for julie haener. >> and i'm frank somerville. at this hour the san jose city council is still dealing with some hot button issues including labor issues with city firefighters and government employees. some decisions could lead to changing the san jose charter which is the city's version of the constitution. robert handa is live at city hall where the debate is raging