this time got into an argument at a local gas station near by. they got into a big dispute. they were inside the car. they say avia threw some thins -- some things into the vehicle. then he got into the vehicle, dragged the victim and to no c0

is living in brentwood. they say he's been in the united states living in brentwood for several years now. i'll stay on top of this and bring you the very latest at 6:00. i'm paul chambers, ktvu channel

2 news. a san francisco man accused of beating a priest he says abused him appeared in court today. lynch claims the priest raped him and his brother when they were little boys. he's been fighting for criminal charges to be brought against the priest. prosecutors have been barred from charging the priest, even though the catholic church paid damages to the brother. that's because lynch did not report the crime until 20 years after it occurred, and by then the -- limitations had expired.

redwood city police -- pacifica police say they have reports of a police im imposter there as well. he will likely face charges from the other community. elizabeth edwards, the estranged wife of senator john edwards has lost her battle with cancer. one day after her family announced she was gravely ill. she was 61 years old. elizabeth edwards made a campaign visit in 2007. >> she had political instincts that you don't often see in a spouse. she just really had her finger on the pulse of people.

i think she could feel their pain. >> in a statement today, president obama said he and the first lady michelle obama were deeply saddened to hear of edward's death. and mayor newsom steps down to become the lieutenant governor. and tonight there's still no clue who is going to take over for him. the more this drags out, the more it may work in favor of a candidate. >> reporter: a public hearing on this issue began just an hour ago in city hall. with just over three weeks left until mayor newsom is set to leaf his office, it's still unclear who's set to take his place. san francisco journalist and activist christopher cook came to city hall tonight to speak out on the ongoing church of interim mayor. even though supervisors made it clear that they are not close

to choosing a viable candidate. >> i don't think anybody is close to having a threshold to become the interim mayor. >> reporter: avalos office has created a list of job reassignments. the next mayor will maintain much of the current status quo. >> i don't see that person coming in and clearing out anything. there's a lot of folks who have expertise. i don't need it but i would be willing to do it and i would be happy doing it. >> reporter: ed harrington is one of the names mentioned by council members. >> the question is, stepping back is it the right thing to do? shouldn't it not be the decision of the new board that actually has to deal and live with the consequences of this decision. >> doesn't look like there's a

quick resolution to this. >> reporter: political professor cook says the drawn out decision benefits board president chu. >> i think there's a default action here, if they can't reach a resolution, that the board president serves as acting mayor. >> reporter: the hearing going on in city hall is expected to stretch on into the next couple of hours. this is the third time in three weeks board members have taken up this issue and they tell us they'll likely take it up again next tuesday. david stevenson, ktvu channel 2 news. the oakland mayor is focusing on finding a new home in downtown sacramento. in the white house news conference today, president obama defended the tax cut deal

he brokered with republican leaders. the president called the compromise a good deal for the american people. even as they fight to backlash from his own party. >> because of this agreement, middle class americans won't see their taxes go up on january 1st. which is what i promised. >> reporter: for 30 minutes today, president obama deflected criticism as he fielded questions from reporters. most of those questions focused on the revolt taking place in his own party. many democrats are furious that the president appears to have caved in to republicans demands. senator reed told reporters he's not a big fan of the deal. >> some in my caucus still have concerns about my proposal. some republicans have concerns about it. >> reporter: president obama said he had no choice but to cut a deal with republicans to preserve tax cuts for the middle class. he compared it to negotiating

with hostage takers. >> in this case the hostage was the american people, and i was not willing to see them get harmed. >> reporter: and the president said he had to find middle ground. >> because it's a big diverse country and people have a lot of complicated positions, it means that in order to get stuff done we're going to compromise. >> reporter: the president pointed out that the plan includes tax breaks for the middle class and small businesses. and extends jobless benefits for the chronically unemployed. president obama said over the next year there'll be plenty of opportunities for republicans and democrats to clash again. >> i would be happy to see the republicans test on whether i mention a fight on a whole range of issues. i'm sure they will find im. >> reporter: the president vowed that two years from now he will fight to restore higher taxes for the wealthy. something that is not a slam dunk in this lame duck session. we have much more information

for you on our website on president obama's compromise. just go to ktvu.com and click on tax cuts. > two new reports say california's economy might pick up some steam in the next two years. they forecast a faster recovery than a nation as a whole. both reports say that there will likely be job growth in 2011. the ucla study sights the state benefits from a likely pick up in international trade in areas such as computers and electronics, medical twices and aerospace. stocks remained largely unchanged for the third day in a row. stocks began to stage a rally on news of a tax cut deal between the white house and republicans. but that was dampened by higher bond prizes and news that the

government was stepping up its investigation into insider trading. it's a joke that he says he's been telling for years, but one couple wasn't amused. as a result the long time santa at macy's in union square is out of a job tonight. sal castaneda is live in san francisco with more on this, sal. >> reporter: macy's tonight still has a santa claus. he's up at the top there, in santa land. almost the whole floor is dedicated to christmas. it's not the same man who has had the job for more than 20 years and that's all because of a joke taken the wrong way. john tumey has been known to a lot of local san franciscans as santa claus, mostly because he looks and acting the part. he's the famous santa, macy's santa. this year not everyone is smiling. that's because tumey or santa john won't be there. he's been fired by macy's

because of a complaint about a joke he told to an adult couple who sat on his lap. santa began his usual by asking them if they had been good. >> they said, oh yes, santa. and i said, oh, that's too bad. and then i said, you know why santa is so happy and jolly all the time -- and they said no. and i said, well, that's because santa knows where all the naughty girls and boys live. >> reporter: tumey says he never jokes with children and will only tell jokes to adults hoping to get a laugh. >> i've used it for over 20 years and no one has ever complained about it. they didn't complain about it to me. they went right up to management. >> reporter: some said the controversy has a strange similarity to another macy's santa claus depicted on miracle on 31st street. he was fired for claiming to be

the real santa claus. macy's confirmed that tumey had been let go but would not say anything more calling it a personnel issue. many outside of macy's had this to say. >> that seems a little harsh. >> it seemed to be that it was a pretty harmless thing that he said. but when you do a job like being santa in macy's i have to be extra careful with what you say you may o offend somebody. >> i think santa should get a pass on this. >> reporter: nick mavis says he is going to hire santa john and pay him double what he was paid at macy's to play santa at the

o'doules bar down the block. >> sal castaneda, ktvu news. it's security cameras of an explosion in oakland. what triggered that blast. we had a dry one today, but blind behind me you can see green, that's rain. and we'll let you know who will see it the soonest.

the ntsb says there's plenty of blame to go around to determine what caused the crash of the crash of a helicopter in haiti. >> that crash killed nine people on board. the ntsb said carson helicopter

lied about the lifting ability and the faa delayed a request on a request for the report for over a year. a man is left with burns on 80% of his body. we have obtained video of the explosion as it happened. ktvu's craig debro has our report. >> reporter: a neighbors two video cameras captured last night's explosion. one giant flash of light and it was over. we know see what happened. neighbors tell us what the explosion sounded and felt like. >> it sounded like an earthquake. who said i'm facing this way, sitting in the house watching tv. then like a boom. >> it happened so fast, the whole house just rumbled, you could feel the heat. >> reporter: the explosion brought the house down like a house of cards. the owner was renovating the

second floor. firefighters say it sounds like the explosion was caused by something that we all have in our home. >> it sound like it was a gas explosion. >> reporter: one neighbor concerned about the neighbor's safety but gingerly about her own home, opened her doors to her neighbor. >> i heard the explosion, then opened the door and kept hearing, donna help me, donna help me. >> reporter: weatherly say the victim was in intense pain. >> burning line coals. if you put gas line on coal, he was burning. actually burning alive. >> reporter: no other injuries were reported but across an alley, the force of the explosion shattered more than a dozen windows of one apartment

building. pg & e says it investigated an continues to investigate whether any gas lines may have caused the explosion. they say up to this point in the investigation, that doesn't seem to be the case. in october there were no flights delayed the tarmac for more than three hours. that compares with 11 tarmac delays in excess of three hours in october of last year. this is the first time there have been no long tarmac delays since recordkeeping began back in 2008. passenger rights advocates credit tough new federal rules that impose heavy lines for keeping passengers on planes for more than three hours without allowing them to return to the gate. people getting around the evening commute have no problem, but bill martin has come to talk to us about the morning commute. >> we talked about it last night, increasing clouds. there's rain in the forecast,

last couple of days have been dry. as you look at storm tracker 2 you will see the rain in cape mendecino. that divides eureka from fort bragg. you can see the showers behind there. those showers are not too bad. i want to show you the cloud cover we have, this is what i'm tracking this area right here. the dynamics, this blue represents an area of lift where you're going to see more showers. all this is going to start to push into the bay area tomorrow morning. it'll be here in time for the morning commute. this is not a gigantic storm. it's not huge it's just going to be wet. in the morning it's going to be wet in the afternoon and your commute will be impacted. so tonight, we have the increasing clouds. i bet you we see a shower in santa rosa, by after midnight, 1:00, 2:00 in the morning, showers into the morning commute. the wednesday morning commute

slows down. all day tomorrow scattered showers in the forecast. as we go into the bay area weekend, we have the valley fog. and we'll have more valley fogging. here's the satellite loop, you see the rainfalling north. here's the foul line, we get rain in the bay area forecast. some areas could see up to a half inch of rain. i'm going to come back, i've got the computer model lined up and ready to go. we'll look at the five day forecast as well. see you back here. >> we'll see you then, thank you bill. this is the 69th anniversary of the japanese bombing of pearl harbor that thrust the u.s. into world war ii. many commemorated the day. at pearl harbor in hawaii, survivors from the uss nevada and uss arizona attended a wreath laying ceremony. veterans threw a wreath into

the bay to remember their fallen colleagues. more than 2,400 americans were killed when the japanese made a surprise air attack on the u.s. naval fleet based on pearl harbor on december 7th, 1941. a sea lion was euthanized today. he was suffering from extreme brain damage after eating fish contaminated by naturally occurring toxic algae blooms. he was found on the streets of oakly this past weekend. he's mind bars, the brains behind the wikileak website. how police got him and who offered to pay his bail. up next, mountain tops with incredible views of the bay area, when it could soon be open to visitors. new at 6:00, we learn the billion dollars price tag for some bay area politicians pet

projects. what they are asking for and what you could be paying for them. moving hundreds of bay area hospital patients, the reason this move is complicated even though the patients can walk to their new room. one man fighting back against vandals in one bay area park. what he's doing to restore the park. tonight on ktvu channel 2 news at 6:00, complete bay area coverage.

microsoft today unveiled a new feature that is supposed to protect user identity. it allows consumers to keep third party browser to keep

being tracked by web pages. julian assange is behind bars tonight. >> move out of the way, move. >> reporter: it was a chaotic scene in london today where julian assange surrendered. swedish officials have issued an arrest warrant accusing him of alleged sex crimes including rape. assange supporters flocked to the courthouse. one comparing him to thomas jefferson. >> jefferson said that information is the currency of democracy. without it we don't have it. wikileaks has been giving us loads of information and information to which we have a right. >> a british socialite and journalist offered to pay assange's bail. but the judge refused to release him saying that he has

no local address and has enough money to leave the country. a lawyer said that assange legal problems are those of england. the ss american alliance, a world war ii era vessel has been put on tow. the fleet was created for emergency use in wartime but has deteriorated over the years, shedding lead paint and other toxins into the bay. one of the most beautiful views in the bay area may be open to the public in the next few years. the mid-peninsula open face district will vote this thursday on a plan to open

3,500-foot mount ominum to the public. the air force handed the land over to the open space district in 1986 but left behind asbetos and other toxic residue. what police are trying to get from verizon that could turn out to be key evidence in one case. .

today some council members said they want to make sure the tunnel option is studied. today the council is considering spending about $200,000 to conduct its own studies. >> we don't want them to be ugly. there's a lot of way to build things. you can make them ugly or attractive to downtown san jose. that's what we want. >> i think if we don't research it, there will also be something in the public's mind that there was some controversy. >> reporter: the state seems to have made up it's mind already. >> primarily, it seems that all the consultants who have analyzed the alignment and

assessed the cost have all been on the high speed rail payroll. >> i would definitely suggest doing it the cheapest way. >> reporter: that cost is already a concern to city leaders. the wind industry is pushing congress to extend a cash grant program for renewable energy development. the american wind energy association says tens of thousands of jobs are at stake and it wants congress to include an extension of the grant program in president obama's tax cut grant.

meanwhile a group is asking for limits to those who take steps to protect birds from getting killed in wind turbines. ups will now require customers to provide photo i.d.s to ship packages. these security measures apply to ups stores and other outlets across the u.s. a 40-year-old oakland man is recovering from a violent carjacks that happened in antioch friday night. police say he was sitting in his mercedes around 10:45 p.m. when a masked gunman pointed a gun at him, ordered him out of the car and shot him. >> normally this area is pretty good. it's always on the other side that seems there's more violence. seems like it's coming this way. >> reporter: the victim was taken to the hospital with

nonlife threatening injuries. police are still investigating this case. tonight there is new information about an accident that killed a toddler and left her mother in a coma. tonight we hear from an eyewitness also this evening, what police are trying to get from verizon that could turn out to be key evidence in the case. patti lee is live in roner park with more on this. >> reporter: this tragedy has led to a community effort to make this intersection safer. but public safety officials tell us that statistically it is safe. that there's only been four accidents here in the past seven years at this intersection. including this most recent one. >> the uncle of two-year-old kelly marie wept as he walked up to the memorial growing at the scene of the accident. crystal says her hands has not stopped shaking since that night. and she's trying to raise money for kelly's mothers medical bills. >> i stopped because i saw them on the side of the road. i couldn't, it was a split of a

second. >> reporter: roner park investigators say as of now speed probably was not a factor in the accident. but cell phone use, that's another story. >> during the course of our we are view -- of our interviews we've made that determination that the call was in use. so now we're just waiting for confirmation of the requested documents. katie weber has been attracting attention since she bought a yellow vest and assumed the role of crossing guard. >> i can't be here early in the morning. i certainly can't be here when it's dark. so crossing guard can only do so much. >> reporter: she is also collecting signatures to get brighter lights and more signage to warn drivers there's a crosswalk ahead. >> reporter: now weber plans to present the signatures to the city council on the 16th.

but police tell us this intersection has lights and proper signage. you can see that in this live shot here. they say if there's a problem to be addressed it reinvolves around awareness for pedestrians and for drivers. patti lee, ktvu news. the bay area facebook is on the move. where the company is opening up some new offices, next. the world series certainly over, but find out why thousands of fans are lined up outside of the ballpark. and more information on aspirin, the disease that kills

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palo alto based facebook is opening a new office in washington, d.c.. facebook will expand it's presence from six to 40 employees to manage relations between the company and the government. thousands of san francisco giants fans are lining up to get a picture to remember their team's world series win. giants officials say almost 12,000 season ticketholders have signed up for the photo shoot. fans are reminded that they can't touch the 20-pound sterling silver trophy and that no personal cameras are allowed. an official photographer is the

only one who can snap the photos. >> there's so many favorites, people bring their dogs, they bring pictures of family that aren't here. and just all kind of neat stuff. >> fans of all ages have shown up for the picture including this 2 -month-old girl who's parents say they will treasure their photo for the rest of their lives. giants officials said they thought it would be a great way to thank their fans. apple computer may soon release the next generation of the i pad. an asian manufacturers has been told to prepare to ship the next generation i pad within days in time for the 2011 release. people who take a daily dose of aspirin have 20% reduced risk of dying from any

type of cancer. the protective effect only begins working after patients take aspirin for five or more years. scientists believe aspirin slows or prevents cancer over a long span of time. experts say it's too early to prescribe aspirin for cancer prevention. it's recommended pregnant women not eat canned tuna at all. children under 45-pound should eat no more than 4-ounces of light tuna or an ounce and a half of white tuna per week. mayor gavin newsom plans to host an open house.

the open house is scheduled from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. and will feature live music as well as cookies and hot chocolate. it will coinside with a snow park in civic center plaza from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. also a mobile zoo from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. this house is going up in smoke, find out what law enforcement agents -- why they are going to be setting this home on fire later on this week. and as i mentioned before, there is rain in your wednesday forecast, it's going to impact both commutes. when i come back, i'll show you when it gets here and how long it lasts. we learned the billion dollars prize tag for some bay area politicians pet projects. what they are asking for and how much you could be paying for them. also, moving hundreds of bay area hospital patients. the reason this move is complicated, even though most

of the patients can walk to their own room. tonight on ktvu channel 2 news at 6:00. complete bay area news coverage.

authorities in san diego county have now set thursday as the day they will burn down george jokavecks house. they said they found crates of grenades and bomb making chemicals and that it would be too dangerous to try to remove them. so instead they are going to burn the home down. they have built a 16-foot high fire resistant house to protect the house next door. yesterday, he pleaded not guilty to federal explosive and bank robbery charges. congress is expected to vote this week on the dream act. it's an controversial piece of legislation that could lead to citizenship for thousands of

children who came here illegally. >> reporter: bracing frigid winds, students pushed their way on to capitol hill. >> this is the last place before the new congress comes in. >> reporter: because they're fighting for a controversial issue, they expected a chilling reception but not like this. the checks meant for lawmakers were eventually allowed in. they are a reference to a recent congressional office report that shows the dream act would generate more than 2 billion dollars in revenue and cut the deficit over 12 years because more people added to the payroll means more taxes collected. >> i just confirm what is we already knew about the treatment. this is going to boost our economy. >> reporter: but the students must first complete two years of college and military service and have a clean report. >> these are the folk that is we want in our society, to be engaged in the process, to work, contribute, to serve their communities that's all we're asking for. >> reporter: but opponents who

also showed up on capitol hill have their own set of numbers to fight the bill. the rising unemployment rate. >> many families under employed, americans hurting the most right now. right now is not the time to enact a policy that are going to give aliens from other countries a leg up. >> reporter: a vote could happen as soon as tomorrow. in washington carol han, ktvu channel 2 news. more california high school students are graduating even as though who are dropping out continue to rise. more than 78% of students graduated up from 68 a year earlier. drop out rates rose to 28.7% from just under 19%. african american and hispanic drop out rates rose to 3% each to 37% for blacks and 27% for hispanics. it appears berkeley's new party patrol is paying off. it's the latest effort to crack

down on wild parties around the cal campus. in august two patrol cars carryingthe uc berkeley police officer and a berkeley police officer, a city of berkeley police officer began patrolling the streets near campus. since that time, police say there has been a dramatic decrease in both violent street crime and animal house type parties. coming up next at 6:00, a new website where you can see government earmarks here in the bay area. are they wasteful or much needed spending. we'll let you decide. our julie haener is in the news center to focus on some of the others we're working on. >> reporter: hundreds of patients were transferred to a new $600 million facility. the one key difference that every patient and worker will notice right off the bat. late details on what we have just learned about a suspect who is now in custody. and the argument that police say happened just moments

before that deadly incident. he says enough is enough. meet a man who's in a fix it mission in golden gate park. some uc berkeley students have hacked the interworkers of a popular computer game console to create a flying robot that navigates itself. the game console sees objects so that a mini helicopter can steer itself around the room. it's one of the latest being tried by computer programmers all over the world. >> amazing what they can come up with. and we're tracking a new storm. and frank you say you have new computer models. >> that one coming up right now. but right now we have rain coming up. i call this a rain event tomorrow. when i think of a storm i think this is going to be coming at the low end of it in terms of intensity. it's coming a little bit closer and there's the system i'm

tracking. it'll drop in starting tonight, and showers will commence for the morning commute. what you're going do see is the main impact is right there. that's north bay, sonoma county, this weather system is not that far off from what we saw sunday. i don't think we'll see heavy rain like that but just showers. you see the band of clouds are stretching out. there's a little bit of infusion of moisture back here. watch out how it pans out but your morning is going to be wet. that's your commute for wednesday. your wednesday morning commute is going to be wet as well. this deal on thursday morning, right now looks like it's pretty light. as frank mentioned we're going to have that computer model. tomorrow scattered showers, that's our forecast as we roll into wednesday. yesterday we had temperatures in the 60s in some places. concord is at 72 degrees. light showers on the afternoon commute. here's the computer model, it's the latest one. tuesday at 3:00, it's already

happened hasn't it. wednesday it's 7:00 a.m., so there's your morning commute. kind of weather north bay. kind of starting to get damp down there in san jose. we get to lunchtime. that's rain, pretty much everyone has rain. then the afternoon commute, everyone is wet. the red is the heavy rain. this is a scattered rain and this will be the heavier rain. right now we're not looking at a big gully washer in terms of rain. you get into thursday morning and there you go. sprinkles, there'll still be wet roadways and showers in the vicinities. which means there'll be stray showers. check this out on friday, this is something we haven't seen before. friday at 8:00 a.m., something rolls in here and something is out of here. that friday morning thing is a little bit of a change. we'll follow that for you, the take away, you're wednesday will be wet and it will impact the morning and afternoon

commute with light showers. the friday forecast, we have a winter weather advisory goes into effect tomorrow. then it'll probably turn into snow advisory about 6,000 feet. interest winter so far. this remind us of the old winters we used to have in the old days. it was rain, rain, sun. compared to the last years it's been dry then super wet. >> we used to get it all at once. >> this is how i remember the 80s being more. >> thanks, bill. it was a thrilling day at an east bay elementary school. find out what some local sports stars helped the students do. ♪

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san francisco firefighters expect to give toys to 3,000 kids today. they handed out $10,000 worth of toys donated by organizations and individuals. making their toy drive and give away the oldest of its kind in the country. students at an oakland elementary school today, they got a special visit from some local sports stars that came with a lesson in sports and health. >> sports is a big focus in our community out there in the united states, people being overweight and obese, you have

to start getting these kids young to get out there and be active. >> reporter: oakland raiders darius hayward worked out with the kids. he wanted to let the kids know about the simple enjoyment of being outdoors and getting some exercise. >> kids these days don't get a chance to go out and have recess like they used to. we have to remind them, you see these athletes in the tv, they weren't inside playing video games all day, they were out being active. >> reporter: the money is for fitness equipment and or health and wellness programs. it's all part of the national football league's play 60 campaign. the program was designed to target childhood obesity and encouraging young people to be active for at least 60 minutes a day. stay with us, ktvu channel 2 news at 6:00 is next. it's out of the old and

into the new for hundreds of san francisco's neediest health care patients.

i am completely excited. 780 laguna hospital patients are moving into brand new rooms. the reason that the move is bittersweet for some. the new high tech tool you can see to see where your tax dollars are being spent right here in the bay area. good evening i'm julie haener. >> and i'm frank somerville. for many it's been their home for year, today more than 700 patients at the laguna handa hospital moved out and into a brand new home. jim vargas is live in the city tonight with details on what it's like to move that many people, many of whom needed help to make the trip. jim-- >> reporter: frank, take a look. it's big, it's roomy. this is called a pavilion. it's one of three buildings here on the campus