25 hercules investigators and fire officials have spent the day combing through trash. so far their search has turned nothing. fredrick sales was reported missing a week ago. today the investigators focus their search for the body here. at the canyon landfill near pittsburgh. >> this is a need we need to follow and follow through with. we wouldn't be out here if we didn't think it was a possibility. we still continue to hope that mr. fredrick sales is alive. >> reporter: it's possible sales is another victim of valdemoro. they fear that valdermoro may have tried to dispose of sales in a dumpster. >> it's gently pulling pieces of the garbage that was in place and sifting through it.

and there are people who are observing that process. i can tell you it's very thorough. >> reporter: the focus is on garbage that came from dumpsters at park district, valdemoro is now being connected to the murder. >> he knows the area fairly well. >> reporter: this employee who didn't want to be identified says he remembers valdemoro working the evening shift. >> he did his job, we were surprised. >> reporter: so far there are four homicides linked to valedmoro, sales sr. is one of the victims. his badly battered body was found in the home he rented. police are hoping the younger

sales is not another victim. a police spokesperson says that investigators got through less than half of the 1 acre area that they plan to comb through. and that means their search will resume again tomorrow. reporting live from pittsburgh. a vigil for tran will be held tomorrow. investigators say valdemoro strangled tran during a chase tuesday night when chp officers shot and killed valdemoro. >> reporter: there are questions whether police should be looking at two more people who could be involved in this case. that's what 72-year-old charles writtenhouse told his attorneyless. he has been named as a person of interest in the deaths of

his son and his friend. writtenhouse's attorney says efren valdemoro is a possible suspect. but writtenhouse told police he had suspicion about two other people as well. >> it was a couple that had been living in their house for a while. they were involved in criminal activities. at one point mr. writtenhouse demanded they leave the house. at that time one of this couple made a threat against mr. writtenhouse's wife. >> writtenhouse waited if five days before reporting his wife missing, he says it was not unusual for them to go days without seeing each other. you can follow this story online by logging on to channel two's website, the address

ktvu.com. and the police officer that was shot last week continues to recover. today we are finally hearing about todd young's wife. nicole young just spoke about her family's ordeal. >> reporter: 39-year-old freemont police officer todd young is in serious condition. young was shot by two bullets. his wounds have required 60 units of blood and four operations with more surgery to come. >> i was told on friday that it wasn't looking good and they didn't think he was going to make it off the operating table. and my whole life turned upside down in that one moment. >> reporter: an emotional

appearance this afternoon, nicole young the officer's wife and mother of his young children describe the call he made to her just after oakland police rushed him to the hospital in the back of a squad car. >> he called me and said he was in highland hospital, that he was okay, that he just got hit in the leg. so i threw the kids in the car and came up here. >> reporter: the suspect in young's shooting, 20-year-old andrew barrientos is in custody and facing an attempted murder charge. meantime young remains under sedation here at the hospital. doctors say it'll be several days before he will be able to communicate with visitors. nicole young shared with us what he told their children. >> you know that daddy was shot in the leg and she's sleeping so he can get better and come back home. and that's all they know.

>> they will probably require physical therapy, but they are injuries that are recoverable. >> reporter: coming up at 6:00, we'll hear more from officer young's wife, as well as the factor that made the difference between life and death for officer todd young. for now reporting live in oakland, david stevenson. arrest warrants have been issued for 62 manuel trujillo and kahn. also investigators say that trujillo may be in the sa sacramento area. >> we're actively searching for these two men, we do believe

them to be armed and dangerous. we do know that they both have prior felonies and have served time in prison. we also believe mr.kahn has been in the oakland area. we believe he's with his girlfriend. >> his brother escaped but investigators say lopez was severely beaten, tied up and thrown into a vehicle. a helicopter pilot walked away this morning from a mangled helicopter after it crashed on a freeway in salinas. the chopper barely missed hitting a big rig. claudine wong has details on the pilot's condition and the faa investigation. >> it's hard to imagine anyone survived this mangled mess that was a processing helicopter. at about 6:00 this morning, 63- year-old frank dome had just

taken off when he came crashing down upside down on to the already busy lines of southbound 101 in salinas. it happened right in front of a big rig. >> we talked to the driver. he just avoided the helicopter. said he missed it by 6 feet. >> reporter: this pilot survived the crash with just minor injuries. when the chp got here he was hanging upside down still seat belted in. >> he was conscious, he appears to know what happened. his seat belt probably saved his life. according to the pilot, he was disoriented in the fog, he got

a little vertigo and the áf crashed. >> reporter: employees say gomes has been flying for years and has the most experience in the company. >> he has a lot of experience, he takes all precaution. >> reporter: gomes is in the hospital for injuries to his rib, but amazingly by all accounts he's going to be okay. the faa investigator says there are still of course a lot of questions. obviously right now you're talking to the pilot so you know what happened? >> exactly, trying to figure out if it was a maintenance issue or if he experienced something physically. >> reporter: for now people are still focused on how lucky frank gomes is to have walked away from this. these helicopters are a common sight. >> if anyone is going to walk away from something like that -- >> it's going to be frank, yes. >> reporter: it took a few

hours to get the chopper on a flat bed. but in a few hours, highway 101 was open for the start of the holiday weekend. more people are expected to hit the road for a get away this holiday weekend. let's take a look at what happened, both east bounds and west bounds. aaa is expecting a 10% increase in road travel over last year they say that could be due to the slightly improving economy. taking a peak at what's happening here on the golden gate bridge, looking pretty good. travel in both directions also flowing well. in all about 34.5 million people are expected to take trips of 50 miles or more for this upcoming holiday weekend. it's the life blood of san francisco, and a major part of the bay area's economy. we're talking about tourism and tonight if visitors and convention bureau reports that it appears to be recovering. at the same time the spending

habits of tourists are changing. tom vacar is live tonight in san francisco's fisherman's ward. >> reporter: san francisco's largest private employer is the tourism industry. 64,000 employees, nearly $8 billion in sales. tourism's definitely picking up the beat from last summer but we're still a million tourists short of the 16.5 million who came here two years ago. king says he's been here for years. >> now there's a little bit more pep to the step, a little happier feeling, and i think there's more confidence in recovery. >> reporter: foot traffic is all good and well because it's a positive sign. but until you're willing to make that turn into the store, it doesn't mean much for the economy. >> it's worth paying for, you can't get this at home. so i'll come here. >> reporter: but what the studies shows is that each person is spending less.

>> there's more people through here, but not as much -- for each balloon or whatever. >> i'll be more careful. i'll probably buy more knickknack stuff if i wasn't watching my budget. i think our plans have been a little bit side railed maybe. >> reporter: one local man told us something else is at work. >> nobody has money to waste. and you just can't be flamboyant like you used to be. that's what's missing in america. >> reporter: especially hard hit, owners of brick and mortar stores who have high rent and overhead. >> a few years ago they would actually spend $100. right now if we're lucky, $20. >> reporter: although tourist season ends in the fall, hope springs eternal. >> the spending is coming back. i feel more confident in the

economy this year than let's say 18 months ago. >> reporter: personal note, through 30 years of reporting and three previous recessions, i always heard that boom times would never come back. but you know what, every time they did, bigger and better than before. reporting live consumer editor tom vacar, ktvu channel 2 news. it's barreling into the east coast, we'll show you which cities are bracing for hurricane earl. >> oh my gosh. lasted probably over a minute. >> on an island, people are looking to pick up the pieces after the an earthquake. and i'm looking at how weather will impact your holiday weekend.

it was a 7.8 quake and it

struck at 8:00 in the morning new zealand time. the earthquake woke people and threw things to the ground. >> that shake lasted probably over a minute. we've got no water. >> we were so scared, it was terrible. the whole like, paintings fell, the lights were just going nuts. >> with a population of 400,000, christ church is the largest city in new zealand's south side. hurricane earl is gaining speed as it races up the east coast. randy inocencio has the latest. >> reporter: hello gasia and hello frank. over here it's friday evening

and a lot of people think that on this friday in particular, it's the start to a great labor day weekend, but a lot of people here are thinking, instead of heading to sand and surf, they are heading to safety. holiday weekend plans have been cancelled all in the name of caution. >> if it gets near 70 miles per hour, they do shut the bridges so -- >> get out early. >> exactly. >> reporter: damage was minimal and no injuries were reported. earl then swirled up the seabou

r ge. >> i think people who have houses are a little bit nervous, but really people seem pretty relaxed in town. >> reporter: despite warnings, here in massachusetts there are those who are confident about riding out the storm at home. >> we've gone to the grocery store, we've got all the stuff we need if power goes out, if anything should happen. i guess you know this house iswettered storms before. we've had 4 feet of water in the basement, but you know nothing that, nothing we can't handled we feel. >> reporter: so what's the next step? well the national hurricane center says that by the time earl arrives here in cape cod, looks like it's not going to be a hurricane, it's probably going to be a tropical storm. so that's very good news for people here on the coast. as it remains for the province, they are going to have to face the brunts of the storm and

winds. >> here around the bay area, people are wanting to stick to home to enjoy the holiday weekend. >> we had a lot of clouds out there today, along the coast. it wasn't a spare the air day, we won't see one storm, we're moving into this holiday weekend with a cooler weather pattern in store. right now we go to live storm tracker 2. it doesn't look for rain this time of year it looks for fog. out in the avenue it's foggy right now. the fog is working it's way across chrissy field. give it a couple of minutes and that fog will be in san francisco and at the ballpark. what i'm saying is, last weekend was very cold, this weekend will be milder. when i say cooler week end don't head for the jacket, it's still going to be nice, unless you're at the beach then you want a jacket. i hope you have monday off,

looks like a real nice week end. look how our areas are going to be in the upper 80s and we'll see 70s for most of us in the bay area. specifically we'll look at the fog tracker. we take you into the morning hours, our computer model takes fog and sends it to freemont. that is a bigger or larger fog food print that we saw last night and the night before. so with more fog in the morning, you're going to start off cooler, you're going to end up cooler. the fog will burn off, you'll see the sunshine by saturday afternoon. but temperatures will begin to stay on -- in the 70s and mid- 80s. so that will be the weather story. when i come back, i'm going to have which day will be the warmest on your labor day weekend, i'll see you back here. israeli prime minister returned home today to confront opposition to his peace moves

in washington. his palestinian counter part is also facing harsh criticism for agreeing to the talks in the first place. there was anger in the gaza strip which is ruled by hamas, a militant group that refuses to recognize israel. nevertheless, they've agreed to meet every two weeks. a new movie about a bay area native, pat tillman opens at the theaters today. the former nfl star turned army ranger who was killed six years ago while serving in afghanistan. his death was surrounded by controversy after the government first said he was shot and killed by enemy soldiers. but it was later determined this he was killed by friendly fire. the film is being shown in san san francisco and alameda

county. i haven't taken a position on it yet. she hasn't then but has now. up next how she is now taking ao stand. and the final moments of that plane that crashed into a lagoon. the information that witnesses are giving investigators tonight that could indicate what caused that plane to go down.

republican senate candidate fiorina came out in favor of proposition 23. that is a measure that would delay implementation of the global warming law. this comes after fiorina refused to take a position on prop 23 two days ago. >> do you support prop 23 which would suspend ab32. >> my focus is on a national energy policy. >> yes or no. >> because that is why -- >> just answer, do you support. >> i haven't taken a position on it yet. >> if you can't take a stand on prop 23, i don't know what you will take a stand on. >> some analysts say that fiorina had a dilemma, polls suggest prop 23 is unpopular with voters but some of her campaign voters support it. and now she says she does as well. with two months to go before the midterm congressional elections, a new poll brings continued bad news.

49% say they prefer the republican candidate for congress in their district while 43% said they prefer the democrat. while those who searched republican were asked why, 48% said it was a vote for the republican, 43% said it was a vote for the democrats. marijuana may not be a gate way drug as has been popularly suggested. a new report looks at 1,300 young adults in the area. caucasian were the most likely to use drugs, followed by hispanics then african americans. stress levels were most likely to predict future drug use than marijuana use. there is no one single answer as to why someone develops an addiction. clues to that redwood city plane crash, with the plane still in the water, there are

telltale signs that may help investigators discover what went terribly wrong. and districts are gets millions of the dollars from the stimulus plan, why schools say they won't be using that money to rehire teachers.

witnesses tribe the final moments of a doomed flight that ended with a small plane crashing in the peninsula. federal investigators are preparing to remove the wreckage from the redwood

lagoon as the investigation of that crash continues. john fowler has the story. >> reporter: right now there's a grim recovery still going on, let's take an overhead look, this is the redwood shores lagoon surrounded by office buildings and homes where the plane crashed yesterday at noon. right now crews have attached floats are preparing to remove the wreckage from the water. ntsb investigators may want to talk to a witness that we did today. >> it was sputtering all the way till it hit. >> reporter: what witness armani heard was engine failure. the engine had ruled sharply right as it would if the engine failed at full speed. >> it went sideways and then down, it sank fast.

>> reporter: borman owned the airplane. the men's bodies are thought still in the wreckage. >> our fire crews and the ntsb will remove the bodies still in there. >> reporter: they will pay close attention on fuel selectors. then the pilot had accidentally switched to empty fuel tanks before take off. right now we've learned that owner randy borman a former world war ii pilot may have been on a seat. but that he no longer flew and he was quote a stickler when it came to aviation. the coast guard rescued seven people who were stuck on their boat overnight in sasoon

bay after they ran out of gas. responding to a call for help, the coast guard searched for three hours until they found if boat. the water was too shallow for the coast guard boat to reach them so they called one from san francisco. >> once we were able to get the shallow water boat on the scene, we were able to bring them home safe and sound. >> four of those on board were children age 3 to 14 years old. school officials received word on how much if any money they'll be getting for the $10 billion reform bill they'll be getting. >> reporter: just getting the numbers now, san francisco schools will get a $10 million infusion, oakland schools 7 million. millions more for antioch, berkeley, alameda, the difficult part finding out which schools are using the

money to hire somebody. over lunch, during summer vacation, long time school principal hobley told us his job is different amidst a crippling recession and widespread cuts. >> trying to convince the districts that you need more money. >> reporter: $10 billion immediately to schools nationwide to and the white house's words save teachers from lay offs. that includes 10 million for bay area districts. but local districts are still unsure on how they'll spend that money. san jose schools have already decided they won't be rehiring teachers cut but might use the money to stave off future lay offs. a spokeswoman says hiring would be more difficult because this is one time money that will ultimately vanish. antioch schools say they will

try to bring back some of the 50 laid off workers for as long as the money lasts. this money is arriving too late to avoid some cuts affecting some of your children's schools. schools lobbied if this money as if it was needed now, for teachers. >> they went running to congress, with everybody else gotting money, the school lobbies made the case that they too needed money to be able to survive. >> reporter: a spokesman says oakland schools will try to use the money to rehire some of the child development workers they laid off during the massive cuts. some of california's heavy hitters were in the area.

former democratic leader john burton and san francisco city attorney dennis herr era were present. one key issue described is what democrats need to do for the november election. >> what the democratic party will have to do is move through the barrage of ads. caltrain budget problems may be getting worse come next year. the agency warrants that this year's $2 million budget deficit could grow to $30 million because of a loss of ridership and decreases in state funding. caltrans is still thinking about cuts which many riders strongly oppose. a promising new discovery

in treating a disease that kills 465,000 people a year. plus it's so tiny you can barely see it. but it could be triggering a big drop in hotel bookings over the holidays. he was accused and acquitted of illegally transporting the plague virus back in 2003. now the new security scare he triggered at a u.s. airport.

police say a man who was detained in miami yesterday after a suspicious item was found in his luggage had been arrested before for trying to import a deadly germ. butler was acquitted but he served two years for fraud. there is a warning for travelers this holiday weekend. watch out for bedbugs, the national pest management association says there's been a dramatic increase in bedbugs in the united states. a popular travel website reports reports a surge in traveler complaints about

bedbugs. >> we're finding bud bugs in budget establishments as well as resort establishments. aol can put content on google you tube. analysts say the new deal is important to aol which is restructuring. steve jobs is one of those applauding the bill signed yesterday by governor arnold schwarzenegger. jobs had lobbied for the measure which required the dmv to ask people if they want to be organ donors.

jobs went to minnesota for an organ transplant because the list was too long in california. the first targeted treatment for triple negative breast cancer. they discovered this type of cancer starts in a certain class of breast cells as opposed to stem cells. triple negative is the name for a tumor that doesn't react to certain drugs. researchers are distelling the motion that sugar helps newborn babies feel better during painful procedures. for years, doctors thought the changes in facial express meant that it was easing baby discomfort: but the nerve activity in the pain centers of the baby's brain are telling a different story. sugar merely has the effect of altering their facial expressions and does not

relieve their pain. laid off after 16 years on the job, the faces behind the latest unemployment numbers coming up. and the holiday weekend is just about here, it was beautiful today, what are we looking at for the weekend? bill will tell us in just a moment.

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the nation's unemployment rate picked upward in august. the labor department today reported the jobless rate is 9.6%. that's up from 9.5% in july. even though the economy added

67,000 jobs in the private- sector, at least 550,000 are needed to lower the unemployment rate. president obama says the jobless rate shows that his jobs plan is working. president says that more needs to be done to help small business because that is where  most of american jobs are created. unemployment has become a grim reality for a lot of bay area workers as weeks turn into months of resume writing and interviewing. today's rob roth spoke to some of them about just how hard things are. >> reporter: for these people here at the state unemployment office in san francisco, the latest unemployment figures are not only statistics, they are their daily troubles. this woman says she worked as an office assistant for macy's

for 20 years. >> i used to see it on tv, and now i'm here, i'm one of those people. >> reporter: she remains hopeful for now. >> it's just disconcerning, i am just so used to having your paycheck, just comes into your bank every week, mine used to come and it's not going to be coming. it's just hard to realize that. that was my big wake up call. >> reporter: economists say a glimmer of hope in the august unemployment numbers. private employers created more jobs than expected. but that's not helping craig. he said he found part time work the last year but wants something permenant. >> the positions that i do get called back for, they often tell me they receive 100, 200 resumes per job. so obviously there's a lot of competition with the jobless rate being so high. >> you apply for a job and they

tell you they're going to call you in and they never do. they don't keep their word. >> reporter: the latest unemployment statistics shows that more than half a million people resumed their job search last month. economists say that's a sign that more people are hopeful about a recovery. but here in an unemployment office, hope is a fragile commodity. in san francisco, rob roth, ktvu news. the stock market ended the week with a fourth straight day of gains. the dow was up more than 100 points. investor confidence got a boost this week. let's take a look at those numbers, dow was down by almost 128 points. the nasdaq was up by 33. for more financial and consumer news at any time visit ktvu.com

and click on the finance tab. >> i think that we're just now getting below 50,000 in iraq and if crew of the matter is the draw downs in iraq from a manpower standpoint were incredibly important in our ability to have this surge in afghanistan. >> kandahar is the spiritual homeland of the taliban. the move to legalize marijuana is falling out of favor with california voters but coming up at 6:00, we'll tell you what a new survey found could turn the tide. also, the message of freemont undercover officer shot while on the job had to send before heading into surgery. stripped of its name, the efforts san francisco's planned parenthood is taking to clean up its business practices.

and how californiawilll get a say if a budget is not approved. -- this bill was introduced after the dubai dumped oil into the water. the governor has not yet indicated whether he will sign the bill. the holiday weekend is just about here. a lot of folks will be out, also cal and sanford also opening their season at home, what are we looking at. >> big games going on this weekend in the bay area. a lot of outdoor activities. it's really the last weekend of summer, unofficially. we're looking at temperatures slightly cooler than we've seen, and right along the coast a little bit of fog. you can see it working its way

now, that's out near chrissy field. that's where the disney museum is too. the fog showing up in san francisco, it's a shallow fog bank, but it's going to get into your neighborhood. if you're out in the avenues it feels like -- what time is it now almost 6:00, it feels like it's 7:30. the ambient light is moving in, highs today away from the water, 90s. today was warm to hot, we did have a spare the air day. high pressure was warming up. look who's back. basically six months worth of this guy. this high pressure comes back.

your forecast if you're traveling around the state, foggy. bakersfield 85, 109 in palm springs. this is farther inland than we have been. by afternoon the fog goes right back to the coast. so temperatures are going to be allowed to get back into the upper 80s. maybe low 90s. but a cooling trend, this is nothing, nothing like last week end. last weekend was like winter, this weekend is cooler but just in comparison with the record heat we saw a couple of days ago. we had 100-degree temperatures last weekend, no more. temperatures back into the 80s and low 90s. air quality gets better, i hope you guys, not you guys, i hope everybody too, but i hope you

guys have monday off. >> you off monday? >> no i'm here. >> cal plays about 1:00, stanford plays at 3:30. >> 1:00 it'll be about 70 degrees, and stanford about 75, 76. south of laredo, there's a place...

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millions of american families are not taking advantage of the help out there for them. about 1 million uninsured children qualify for medicaid but are not enrolled in either program. 40% of those children live in california, florida or texas. the studies authors recommend that officials explore changes and initiative to get more eligible children enrolled. school kids in san francisco got a taste of what it's like to orbit the world from america's first black astronaut to walk on space.

some students got a chance to sit in a seat from one of the nasa orbiters. dr.harris urged students to pursue careers in math and science and to reach for the stars. >> it's a message we're trying to deliver to these young people, that if they set goals to set goals, and setting those goals starts now. >> he also has an inspirational book that is due to come out in bookstores in october. and there is much more news just ahead. ktvu channel 2 news at 6:00 is next. include ago story about how california stand on a push to legalize marijuana and how people on both sides of the issue plan on getting their message out. plus -- >> reporter: a bay area women's health clinic responds to the possibility of a federal investigation.

they saved my husband's life. and i will forever be grateful to them. shot on the job, tonight the wife of an injured freemont police officer speaks publicly for the first time. what her husband told her in a phone call moments before he was rushed to the hospital. and a planned federal investigation is under way in the bay area. good evening i'm gasia mikaelian. julie haener has the night off. i'm frank somerville. a freemont officer shot in the line of duty is recovering tonight but is still sedated. the shoot out happened one week ago, and today the wife of officer todd young was emotion as she spoke publicly about her husband for th