it's a first for the briar -- for the bay area. why it could take drivers the hang of the new interchange. at novato high school this morning, what students are telling counselors about how they feel about the deadly accident from last week. ktvu channel 2 news at noon starts now. good afternoon.

in just about an hour, pg&e is expected to release its list of top 100 high priority projects. the director of the p.u.c. requested them and pg&e has called a press conference for 1:00 today. claudine wong joins us live with more on what will be on the list. good afternoon, claudine. >> reporter: good afternoon, tori. yes, the p.u.c. made its request on friday and pg&e has this 1:00 press conference scheduled. we're told we get to see that list. the list will be the top 100. you no we have spent -- now we've spent this morning dealing with what will be on that list. this morning, it was a typical

scene at tazman and 1st. no one seemed overly concerned about the pipe running underground. but chuck reed says he's already been that that section of pipeline will be on the list. but pg&e didn't give any details as to why. >> we don't know the specific locations of the section. we don't know what they plan to do about it. so we're anxious, like everybody else, about what needs to be done. >> reporter: this is the director sent to pg&e's president. it asks for seven areas of information. eventually they want to know which projects is high priority. and what specific public safety concerns put these projects on the list. it also asks for information on anying section of line 132. s that the san -- that's the

san bruno line that exploded. the pg&e wants to know if any of that line was on high priority projects. remember, the fireball in san bruno burned for over an hour. the shutoff valves were manual and took some getting to. automatic valves are not required. they want to know how much it would cost to replace these. they are answers that mayor reed wants to know. >> i'm not gonna pretend to be an expert because i'm not but there's technology that would allow the shutting down of

things. >> reporter: we do expect to be able to take a detailed look at what pg&e has to say about these high priority pipeline projects in less than an hour. certainly the utility remains under high scrutiny. as we wait for the answers to two critical questions -- how did it happen and could it happen again? back to you. >> thank you. the young woman who died in a pipeline -- in the pipeline disaster is being laid this afternoon. ♪ her fub funeral -- her fine was was today. she was an aspiring fashion -- fact designer. doctors say the four people

recovering at the bush center are making slow and steady process. this is the first day of school for students in novato since a horrible car accident that took a classmate ate life. another student has been taken off life support, while the 16- year-old driver who did not have a license faces multiple felonies including drunk driving. kraig debro joins us more with how people at the school are hoping today. good afternoon, kraig. >> reporter: good afternoon, tori. there's mixed emotion on the campus of novato high school. if you take a look at this video, the counselors --

everybody is upset about the loss of life but word that alcohol was involved is leaving some students wondering if the deadly accident could have been avoided. it was a horrible scene. five teenagers in a bmw struck and police found liquor and beer bottles. >> i was stunned. i was disappointed about the choice that was made. >> i found it really remarkable that they would leave at school hours to do that. >> reporter: for other students it may be too early to think about the circumstances of the crash. a memorial held friday night at the scene drew at least 160 students according to the organizer. >> on facebook, they are writing all of the grief and

sadness. so i said let's do something with -- let's do something about it. >> when tragedy like this happens, you realize it's not a school issue it's a society issue and we all need to pull together to find a solution. >> today's students and staff have will access to the grief counselors. >> they are no shock. probably a lot of fear. what if this happens to me or what if this happens to one of my family members. >> that -- one of the counselors i spoke to said kids are coming in and some are crying and some are saying they knew alcohol would be in the car and now they feel they

could have avoided the incident. back to you. >> thank you, kraig. this afternoon, marine mammal experts will be examining a dead whale that washed ashore. the park services start to call this morning about a dead whale. officials say they it's about 40 feet long. they can't tell what kind of whale it is yet. they will be doing some dna testing on the whale to determine what kind of whale it is. and this is after speculation that the ocean beach whale could be the same whale dragged into the port of oakland by a cargo ship last week and then towed back to sea. the bay area's fert express -- first express toll lane has been operating since 5:00 this

morning. as jade hernandez reports there's a lot of drivers who need to know if they plan to use it. >> reporter: this is the first- ever express lane work. solo drivers stop wishing you were carpooling. >> for us it will be 1.50. because we're going to mission. if we were going all the way it could be $1.75. >> right now the most important thing for drivers to understand is the double white line they can't cross. that's difficult from a regular carpool. >> reporter: the lane stretches 14 miles with only three entrances beginning at highway 8 4 with sunol. sensors over the toll lanes

will charge the drivers' fastrack device. drivers are using fastrack to pay the toll or a carpooler with their transponder is still up. a that's -- that's a green signal. a yellow shows they are using this illegally. this is the first ever toll lane in northern california but it won't be the last. drivers can expect to see these expression lanes pop up all over first on 580 eastbound and then on 580 westbound the following year. in fremont, jade hernandez. 41,000 people are attending the oracle convention in san francisco this week. organizers have built a temporary mini stadium on

treasure island and the black- eyed peas will perform this week. most of san francisco is packed with events, including all of the moscone center. after the scandal at the southern california city of bell, state attorney general jerry brown is reviewing all local government salaries of more than $00,000. some of those -- $300,000. some of those are in the bay area, including san ramon city manager who nation nearly $360,000 a year while in nearby pleasanton that city managers makes about $150,000 less. livermore and danville, also make more than $00,000 a year -- $300,000 a year. police are investigating a

purse snatching accident. it happened to jean kwan. jean kwan was not hurt. her purse was found a few blocks later. sunny skies after a cool and cloudy start around the bay. mark will have your forecast. and rebuilding with the purpose. e ret ma oilwi totr wco l wcote

a fire below a train bridge is disrupting train service in and out of grand central station this afternoon in new york. this is between manhattan and the bronx. no one was injured by the blaze which started just over three years ago. the cause of the fire is under investigation. iranian president, mahmoud ahmadinejad, is calling on the u.s. to release eight i rapeian prisoners -- iranian prisoners. sarah shourd was released last week after being held for 14 months for crossing the iranian border. the mothers say they are hoping to meet with mr. mahmoud ahmadinejad, who is currently

in new york fork the u.n -- for the u.n. general assembly. a two-day hearing is underway on the franken dish. it's ginn netically engineered salmon that grow twice as fast as natural salmon. critics say it could cause unknown allergic reactions and contaminate the gene pool. tomorrow the company will argue against labeling, saying consumers don't need to know if it's a modified product. this week, ktvu and our parent company, cox enterprises, are being you the stories of five people who are making a difference in your community. today, bill martin introduces us to gordon piper. a wildfire destroyed his home and gave him a purpose in life. >> reporter: we first met

gordon piper in 1991 after his home burned down in the east bay hills fire. >> the chimney on our fireplace, it fell into the hot tub where it still resides. >> reporter: gordon and his wife decided to rebuild. gordon committed to do even more. >> why rebuild unless we did a better job of maintaining our open space areas. >> reporter: he's helped to establish gardens now at seven public schools. as chair of the oakland landscape committee, he can replace highly-inflammable weeds on the hillside. he organizes the volunteers. just this location, i worked

and -- >> and he gets the materials donated. >> i'm a good networker. sometimes i get thousands of donated plants each year from retail and whole nurseries. >> reporter: gordon says that's really important these days. >> we can do a lot to help in our parks. help reduce fire. >> reporter: gordon says it all takes a lot of time. >> i work in a retirement, seven days a week. we need you to come out and help on our work days. >> gordon says after nearly 20 years he's convinced of one thing, one person can make a difference. bill martin, ktvu channel 2 news ktvu channel 2 news. >> and can you go to ktvu.com to learn more about the cox

nominees. click to the ktvu/tv36tv36 logo. you can also vote for which hero you think should get a $5,000 contribution. a new report shows the number of people killed in car crashes due to distracted drivers went down last year. the transportation department says 5400 people were killed on u.s. highways. that's down 6% from 2008. transportation officials say the problem of distracted drivers often because of cell phones or other mobile devices remains an optimistic. they say data may be just the tip of the iceberg and many police officers don't document such distractions. let's check in with mark toe i -- mark tamayo, our

meteorologist. right now the maps, here is daly, and pacifica. we have a low breeze in place, a look outside from our san rafael camera, we still have a little haze out there across the bay area, rooking out toward the golden gate, this was the seen seen -- scene. it will be warmer today, cool earl for tuesday and wednesday. the extended forecast. as we head into the weekend, temperatures rebounding nicely. as far as highs, 70s around the bay. temperatures inland, in the lower 80s, around 80 to 83 this afternoon. santa rosa right now checking

in 74. oakland at 73. san jose, 73 and concord, 74 degrees. this was the weather system yesterday that produced the clouds. that'sed moved out to the east and high pressure returns. we're thinking temperatures on average warming about 3 to 6 degrees from saturday's highs actually -- actually from yesterday's highs and then from tuesday and wednesday we're gonna cool things down to the 60s and 70s. for this afternoon, mostly sunny. we'll call it warm. you can see the range from the lower 60s coast side. temperatures inland. and we're gonna hold on to some patchy fog at least over the next few hours. into the evening hours, partly cloudy skies, the fog regroups. as a result temperatures will be cooling off for your tuesday -- for your thursday.

>> here is alook ahead to the five-day forecast -- two cooler days with partly sunny skies on wednesday. but beyond that, look what happens on thursday and friday. the upcoming weekend looks beautiful with temperatures inland approaching the 90- degree mark. by the way, fall preliminarily begins. so a very -- >> okay. thank you. hurricane igor is heading away from bermuda and towards atlantic he's coast. ee gear passed last night, gusts as high as 9 eye miles -- as high as 90 miles an hour. it's expected to create a large swells along the east coast tomorrow and there is a 0 tropical storm washing in effect. up next -- a big honor

tonight for a bay area sports icon.

taking a live look at the big board on wall street, stocks extending their september rally as investors hope for more moves. and the s&p 500 is helping

stocks. the dow is up 153 at,10,761, nasdaq is up 37 and the s&p is up 17. also helping the markets, economists tracking the recycle of the recession said it is over. this was the longest and deepest in the u.s. since the great depression. fare inspectors are standing guard at muni stations to catch a glimpse of people without paying. apparently there are sensors that can be set up from the gate giving people access to

trains for free. tonight, the san francisco 49ers will officially retire jerry rice's number during halftime when they take on the new orleans saints. he played under number 80 and won three super bowl rings. he was inducted into the hall of fame this year. that will do it for us now. our next newscast is at 5:00. have a great day. e ret ma oilwi totr wco l wcote