a series of street robberies all armed and tonight we're learning many of them are connected. good evening, i'm gasia mikaelian in for julie haener. >> and i'm frank somerville. same area, same time, a rash of robberies has residents worried. >> reporter: who's is doing this is stalking this exact

area. when you look around it's actually a very nice pocket of north berkeley. a lot of families, a lot of children. this armed robber is not just striking at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning, this armed robbery is hitting at 5:00, 6:00, 7:00, those known evening dinner hours. this is the epicenter canyon and lincoln. >> this is a little unsettled the last month or so. >> reporter: we saw a number of people walking by themselves, including melinda carmack. >> that's one of the things we like about this neighborhood, it's a very walkable one. sometimes that's very frightening. >> you want to make sure you don't get caught with a stray round. >> reporter: nicholas is one of many residents who came together for a meeting

searching for answers from police. >> i am scared to go out, especially with my daughter. we haven't seen any increased police patrols. >> we used to have 160s, now we have 101. >> reporter: extra officers have already been deployed into the area where the known rob are robberies are occurring. berkeley vice mayor linda mayo who organized tonight's meeting says the city has already tried to brighten the area. >> we want additional lighting but we put the lightening assessment on the ballot twice and it failed. >> reporter: this area does have warning signs up, and police want residents to keep doing just that, watch and

report any suspected ago thetivety. ktvu news. after meeting late tonight between white house and top lawmakers the senate is ready for a test vote monday on the bush era tax votes. today the democrats set up a new roadblock for the president. overwhelming majority told our speaker to send the word back to the white house, don't even come here with this tax plan. >> some democrats have complained privately that they are angry with president obama for compromising without consulting them. taxes will go up for almost all americans on january 1st. president obamas effort for passing don't ask don't tell has failed. democrats could muster enough

votes to counter a filibuster. and with time running out in the legislative session, another vote may be difficult. new at 10:00, a trans transgender woman filed an unusual lawsuit against the dmv. amber lee is in san francisco with our report. >> reporter: the 23-year-old transgender woman told us about her experience here. seven weeks ago here today, ye waited for hours at the dmv. >> so much stuff just ends on having a driver's license, or some other photo i.d. that matches you know who you are. >> reporter: but four days

later, yu says she received this letter from a person who identified herself as the dmv clerk who handled her application. he wrote in part, the homo sexual act is an abomination that leads to hell. >> i am thinking, this person has all the information i gave to the dmv. they have my address and social security number. >> reporter: yu's attorney filed this complaint, a first step to filing a lawsuit. >> this shouldn't be allowed to happen to anyone, transgender or anyone. >> reporter: yu now says she's concerned about her safety. >> this person has all the information they would need if they want to hunt me down. >> reporter: employees are prohibited from contacting

customers about nonbusiness. the person who wrote the letter to yu was not at work, but denied to comment about their work status. >> why is someone who's going to do that with information available to them be holding a government position. >> reporter: yu did receive her new driver's license, she moved to san francisco from southern california just seven months ago and says she loves the city despite what happened. amber lee, ktvu channel 2 news. california has agreed to settle a lawsuit by enforcing a state law that bans schools from charging certain fees. schools had been charging for textbooks, cheer leading and other items. if state also agreed to seek new laws that would broaden

annual state audits to reduce certain fees. prosecutors say lucio rivera-avila and baker were arguing in his truck. baker was getting out of his truck when he ran her over. he's expected to go before a judge next week. craig carlos valen to the best -- valentino was arrested after he stopped his truck on the golden gate bridge and called in a bomb threat while with his teenage daughter in the truck. a new eastern span is ahead

of schedule. the move will allow caltrans to open the entire bridge ahead of schedule in the year 2013. for more on this project you can go to our website ktvu. talk about a travel nightmare, hundreds of passengers were stuck on a qantas place for more than four hours at the san francisco airport. u.s. laws protecting passengers from being stranded really don't necessarily apply in this situation. >> reporter: weary travelers filed into san francisco airport for a second day after being trapped on board a plane last month. >> it was uncomfortable, it got

hot. >> reporter: qantas874 was expected to take off last night. it quickly started what is called a rolling delay. 4.5 hours later at 3:30 in the morning, qantas finally cancelled the flight. some people spent the night in the airport. >> it was really difficult for me being pregnant. it didn't get into my hotel room until 6:30 a.m. after getting on the plane 3:30 p.m. on the previous night. >> reporter: last year airlines began implementing the traveler bill of rights. that would have amendment to a more than $7 million fine in this case. but the rules don't apply to international carriers like qantas. >> the fact that they are a

foreign carrier, they may be exempt. >> reporter: earl littler today i called qantas headquarters in australia, an airline representative apologized to passengers for the delay. that spokesperson told us that they would be reaching out to passengers when they arrive in australia on how they will compensate them. clear skies tonight, but what's in store for tomorrow? our chief meteorologist bill martin has our forecast in just about ten minutes. first, a sea lion is sprayed with bug shot. what we learned about the attack and why sea lions are shot often.

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it's an injury associated with street violence. not an attack on a wild animal but tonight workers at the marine mammal center are doing everything they can to save a sea lion with a gunshot wound to its head. debra villalon live now with where that sea lion was found. >> reporter: this beach is where some people walking along spotted the 7-foot sea lion last night. >> he's finally resting and finally sleeping and relaxing. >> reporter: it's been a rough couple of days for this 340-

pound male. his left eye is swollen shut. his right eye is gone after someone fired a shotgun at him. >> he's got at least five that are lodged in him. there's one, two, three, four five that we can see. >> reporter: pellets about the size of a fingernail, an attack that probably happened the same day. but who did it an why a mystery. >> some people do view these animals as nuisances. an analogy might be a campground bear. >> reporter: last year a sacramento man spent a month in jail and was fined for shooting a sea lion that stole his fish. >> there must be a better solution than to wound an animal like this, cause this amount of suffering. >> reporter: experts fear for every sea lion they treat, many more are wounded but die undetected, undamaged.

that's why they warn patients for the irritation sea lions may cause. >> this is where the brain is right here. >> reporter: as for this new patient, the plan is to leave the pellets where they are for now and see how he heals. some sea lions like this one shot a few years ago returned to the ocean after regaining their health. it's too soon to tell this time. >> there are plenty of blind sea lions out there. they do exist, blindness happens for a number of reasons. >> reporter: now the wounded sea lion has been named silent night by his caretakers, that's because of the season and because they found him to be quite regal, like a knight. tonight we can show you a happy ending for three california sea lions, they were released one at a time by the

marine mammal center. dozens of children made the trip to watch them return to the wild. a temporary barrier stands tonight around the fountain at the hyatt hotel where a toddler was found unresponsive yesterday. the 18 -month-old boy remains hospitalized tonight with life threatening injuries. investigators say the boy was in the hotel with his mother, nanny and twin center yesterday afternoon when he took off. ten minutes later, an employee found the boy in the fountain. that fountain was also drained today. the runner park woman seriously injured when she was hit in a crosswalk is breathing on her own tonight. she is expected to remain hospitalized for months after she was injured in the crash that killed her daughter. family members say murray still needs to undergo a number of

procedures to repair her legs, pelvis, along with other injuries. in the south bay, community members tonight celebrated their efforts to change the san jose police department impound policy. police are on the brink of implementing the new policy. right now cars are impounded for 30 days when an unlicensed driver is pulled over. the change will give police officers the option of allowing a licensed driver to pick up the car eliminating hefty fines. one woman says it cost her $3,000 when her car was towed away and that it was a huge hardship for her family. >> we ended up having to ask different family members for money to gather enough money the $3,000 to get the car out. >> san jose police says the new policy will open up resources. -- on evidence that could

affect the upcoming bailey murder trial. because of the ruling, prosecutors will be allowed to see evidence that bay plotted to have witnesses in the case killed. bay is to be tried for the killing of journalist bailey and two other men in the summer of 2007. drug agents and police officers raided three marijuana dispensaries today. the raid came just weeks after dispensary owners complained or harassment and just before a public hearing on pot clubs scheduled for next monday. >> reporter: the cannabis collectives were shut down by a raid. officers raided the facility around noon, arrested e two workers inside and hauled away bags from inside that workers said contained marijuana,

computer equipment and records. customers or patients were upset. >> i have major pain, where i'm on a lot of narcotics and i've been able to get off a lot of the narcotics by using medical marijuana. >> reporter: officers raided three dispensaries. one pot club owner said the task force warned him it plans to continue the raids even though san jose and other cities are dropping laws to regulate clubs. >> they told me directly that they plan on raiding everyone in santa clara county that doesn't conform with the local ordnances. >> reporter: how can you prove that you are conforming? >> well that's the real problem. is there isn't anything that anybody has in place to conform with. >> reporter: city councilman oliverio agrees. >> because we failed to act we

now have proliferation of these business in san jose. >> this is so sad, there's no reason for this. people need the medicine. >> reporter: it won't get any easier, several south bay dispensaries also closed down early tonight because of the raids. and owners won't comment on whether they would reopen tomorrow. robert handa, ktvu channel 2 news. the family of a 90-year-old oakland man not seen for several days is asking help to find him. richenstein was last seen wednesday of afternoon when he left his home to go for a walk. tonight the his children told us there's still no sign of him. and a pretty nice day today, the clouds kind of cleared and we got a little bit of sprinkle activity. now we're looking at skies clearing, fog is not forecast. it's already showing up. i've got it out towards

lafayette, five got it up by santa rosa, up in the roner park area. the valleys are picking up fog, it's forming like that. dewpoints are in the 50s so it takes no time at all. in the north bay, you know where the fog shows up for your morning commute, it'll be there. i don't know how dense it'll be, it might be up a little bit so you may see visibility, 1/4 of half mile but there'll be areas that will be below that. there's no rain in the forecast. for the weather headline is going to be the dense weather fog. we can easily see one over the next couple of days. high livermore tomorrow up to 60 degrees. the fog here as i mentioned. i'll have the details on saturday and sunday, i think you'll like it. it's been a decade after his death, but morrison received a pardon today.

he was in the process of appealing the conviction when he died. florida governor and the clemency board voted unanimously today for the pardon. towerrering flames and a plume of smoke. how firefighters kept a home in flames from spreading the the home next door.

a danger demolition today. firefighters had to take a lot of precautions as they deliberately burned down a home right in the middle of a neighborhood. they said that home was full of chemicals and explosives too dangerous to remove. >> reporter: everything went off without a hitch. as a matter of fact what's left

of that home, still smoldering at this hour. they are keeping a close eye on that. within minutes, flames consumed the so called bomb house. officials say burning the home to the ground was the only way to safely dispose of numerous explosives and hazardous chemicals inside. >> if you can't take that stuff out, you know you might as well burn it down. >> reporter: flames soared several stories high but didn't spread, thanks to a 16-foot fire wall built to keep the blaze in check. a plume of smoke shot up half a mile. the plan -- >> burn it as fast as possible, bring it to the ground and get the flames out. >> reporter: there were grenades going off but no harm done. >> it was scary knowing that was on my street.

>> reporter: it wasn't long before the 1,800-degree blaze reduceed the home to ashes. near by interstate 16 was shut down for several hours. >> they knew what they were doing. i truly believed it. they thought it wasn't going to blow up. it wasn't. >> reporter: evacuated residents returned home by mid- afternoon relieved the three week ordeal it was over. but for the suspect, it's only the beginning. >> and it's just amazing how much stuff he had in the house. that's a real scary part. yeah. it's incredible. >> reporter: now bomb and arson crews are going to be back out here in the morning. they tell us they are going to go over every square inch of the property to make sure there is no longer a threat. pg & e closed the it's santa rosa customer center

today after protesters blocked the entrance. this evening a pg & e spokesman failed to tell us whether the store front will resume operation tomorrow morning. the golden eagle refinery is operating at reduced levels tonight after a problem earlier today. several units had to shut down and flairs were activated. one worker suffered a minor burn on his hand, the refinery also placed a warning to near by residents. a teenager playing on a borrowed saxaphone tonight. i just grabbed my piece, came out. fired two warning shots. >> a man take action when

robber demand money. why the police departments response is what has them really upset.

a young south bay saxaphonist is without her prized instrument tonight after it was stolen from her school locker. although she's finding a way to manage, a plea is going out to have her sax back and to help other students. >> reporter: i'm at san jose state university where tonight a high school band performed a concert and one musician tried to make due without her own musical instrument. 17-year-old morado is a saxaphonist with the wind ensemble. but her instrument tonight was

borrowed. last night, someone stole her $1,400 sax. her parents had been making payments on it for three years. >> you kind of grow with it, i guess. just knowing that it's yours also for me was a big deal. because i earned it. like you said earlier. and just, i don't know it's just like a part of me. >> reporter: the sax was taken out of a locker in the high school music room. >> the one time i didn't lock it it happened. and i learned my lesson. >> reporter: the spokeswoman for the san jose unified school district told me tonight they sympathize and are trying to find the thief. but the school can't just hand out money to a student for losing their own instrument. >> it was really difficult for her to then try to adjust to somebody elses horn, or a loaned instrument. we couldn't find her anything that worked that well. she's too good to be playing on something that's sub par. >> reporter: jordine says she hopes that some day the person

who took the saxaphone will realize that it was wrong. >> if anyone has a saxaphone laying around in their house, i just need a saxaphone. >> reporter: her teacher says besides a sax, the school could use any donated instruments because of the cut backs, there are more students who want to play music than instruments. live in san jose, lloyd lacuesta. a controversial baptist church says it plans to protest outside of elizabeth edward's

funeral. westboro also says edwards didn't pray for a cure for cancer. in london, the worse violence protest in years erupted today after parliament tripled university fees. thousands of demonstrators battle with police across the city attacking two government buildings, store windows and setting fire to a christmas tree in chicago square. 23 protesters and 12 police officers were injured. about two dozen people were arrested. in one of the more shocking instrument, a group of about 20 people attacked a car carrying prince charles and his wife camilla. the couple appeared to be stunned but were not injured. nonetheless, police launched an investigation. two years after her son was gunned down in golden beat park, a san diego mother isn't giving up her search for the killer. today christine evans was back

in the park with two private investigators. 20-year-old brandon evans was shot and killed near the park's horseshoe pit on december of 2008. the private is tell us they've been communicating to someone who may know the person with a motive. >> i cannot live through life knowing that this person is walking through life knowing that they took my son's life and got away with it. >> reporter: evans and her son left flowers at the sight her son was killed. there is a $100,000 reward in this case. two people in union city say it was like adding insult to injury. they say that three men tried to rob them last night outside their house. one of the victims was able to run inside, grab a gun and scare them off. but it's what happened next that has them even angrier. it all took place on the 3,300 block of santa rosa court. >> reporter: two men were

working on a car, when out of nowhere three men walked up and demanded their money. >> they started punching my friend. then my friend ran inside, they cornered me over here and started beating me up. >> reporter: fearing for their safety, the friends who call themselves brothers did not want to appear on tv. >> he hit me in the face, i tried to push him off and that's when he stabbed me twice. >> reporter: he showed us his wounds. >> i'm just glad that my little brother was able to run inside. >> i know when the gun went off, they ran. >> reporter: do you think any of them was hit? >> we don't know that which is why we put requests out to other hospitals to let them us know if anyone came in with

injuries. >> reporter: but the attacker turned into the -- i talked with union city police and they said it would have been smoother and a lot quicker if the boys had agreed to the search. but that officers still had to process the crime scene and a judge issued a warrant for them to do so. i'm john sasaki. a discovery at a bay area school that has one neighborhood on alert. i'm tracking fog that's showing up in some of the inland bay valleys, i'll tell you which areas will be the foggiest. tonight find out why his friends are angry and worried about the tenant set to move in. you want some fiber one honey clusters?

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one person is dead, another suffered major injuries tonight in a two car collision on northbound interstate 880 in oakland. the crash happened about 4:00 this afternoon just past the oak street exit. the highway patrol says the three left lanes were closed for several hours tieing up commute traffic. the lanes reopened shortly before 7:00 tonight. the discovery of animal remains today at a school in the peninsula has residents on the look out for mountain lions. it appeared to be killed overnight by a mountain lion and her cub. the caucus has since been removed. this school's principal says she's concerned now that the animals might return and the safety of her students. there were three mountain lion sightings in san mateo county last month alone. this year there's been 35

mountain lion sightings. >> the number of sightings that have been reported, i can't say all those sightings are accurate. just by going by the sheer numbers of possible sightings they have over doubled from last year. the california department of fish and game estimate 4,800 big cats roam california, their primary prey are deer. attacks on humans are rare. nurses at stanford hospital have an incentive to approve their contract. the tentive agreement announced today calls for a 4% raise but could lead to demotions for some nurses. the members are scheduled to vote on a contract on monday. the two sides have been negotiating now for most of the year. investors waited to see if the -- would vote in the contract. the dow industrials closed down

2.5 points. the nasdaq was up 7.5 points. toyota is trying to persuade a federal judge in santa ana to throw out key issues in wrongful loss loss lawsuit. the judge said he was inclined to let the cases go forward. today toyota argued against that. in today in bangladesh, a speeding train slammed into a smaller train. in australia, demonstrators rallied to show support for

julian assange, the founder of wikileaks. the demonstration focused on wikileaks and the release of thousands of secret documents. in anger over presidential election results. the government announced yesterday two candidates would face off in a recount. as many haitians and observers challenged widespread fraud. i think harvey would be appalled by this. harry milk's famous camera shop is getting a new tenant. who plans to move in and why it's causing controversy. will the fog clear? our chief meteorologist bill martin is back with the pay area forecast.

next month, a gay rights

group plans to move into the castro district space where harvey milk once ran his camera shop. what seems to be a perfect match isn't according to those who knew the activist. some of the milks ashes are buried beneath the sidewalk, but it's also a commercial space that's been vacant for about a year. and some of milks friends are angry because of who's moving into the shop. >> i plan to do everything i can to stop it. >> reporter: jones is talking about the human rights campaigns that plans to move it's action center here. the center sells t-shirts, mugs and other items on behalf of lobbying for gays and lesbians.

>> we're doing the same kind of -- trying to change the world that harvey milk did. >> reporter: the hrc will donate a portion of the proceeds to a san francisco school named after milk. but jones says the group works too closely with corporate partners. >> harvey was a grass roots organizers. he identified with the poor and working class. h hrc is an elite organization. >> reporter: the hrc says it aims to promote activism while honoring milks activism. >> i don't think the bay area has exclusive rightsto milk legacy. >> reporter: the campaign told us they met and had a productive discussion. they said they hope to resolve their differences before the

hrc moves here next month. -- and there's been a big jump of people pointing lasers at airliners. california was third in the nation with 60 such reported incidents. the problem is so serious, bay area police took a part on a symposium on the problem. >> it causes a concern with the community, with the traveling public but more so to the public because they are the ones being affected with this, trying to land the projects after they get these air strikes on to their cockpit. >> reporter: a person pointing a laser can face three years in prison and a $5,000 fine. a new tunnel is about to make life a lot easier for bicyclists and pedestrians. it officially opens to the public tomorrow. the tunnel will allow cyclists

to avoid the busy streets making it safer for them. there's also a time saving -- the cost to convert the old train tunnel was $27 million. it's expected some 800,000 bike trips will be made through it every year. the political tide turning against high speed rail is benefiting california. today the obama administration awarded california $625 million that was slated for projects in ohio and wisconsin. there newly elected governors spoke out against their state's high speed rail plan. so the white house apparently decided to redirect more than a billion dollars from the stimulus bill set aside for those projects. california's population grew less than 1% in the last fiscal year. one of the lowest rates on

record. the finance report says california added 250,000 new residents from july 2009 to july 2010. that puts our state's total population at 38.8 billion people. most of the population growth is due to growth. california gained more than 138,000 immigrants but saw 72,000 people leave. google released it's list of the top searching of 2010. the mountain view based company look at top searches and found chat roulette was the most searched for. followed bid i pad and justin beiber. it's warm out there, it's not 70s but it's in the 50s. because it's warm the dewpoints are trending a little bit high. that's why we're going to see fog showing up in the valleys. for instance right now napa 53 degrees. this time last year napa was

coming up in the 30s. temperatures warming, that's because it's warming out there. thanks to these clouds that came in yesterday and brought us rain. the clouds i'm talking about are moving out of the area, as they too they're going to start to clear out -- as they do, they're going to start to clear out. the due point in the 50s so it's going to be easy to get form to form. we're already seeing fog. the weekend is warmer, high pressure is doing what it's supposed to do. but then that high pressure is forming due pattern. you get some rain, it'll be most prevalent in the valley from about marysville south. that's why we will start to see the fog showing up, it'll show up in lafayette, it'll show up in napa, certainly in san

helena, the spots you expect it to. sunday morning and monday morning, we'll have fog and that'll be the issue. it'll get a little more intense every morning. so, forecast tomorrow will be all about the fog, but the fog clears. temperatures-- they should clear quickly tomorrow. temperatures should easily get up to the 60s. a really nice day tomorrow. that's your friday. with morgan hill and san joe -- san jose going into the 50s. i think on sunday, monday the fog may start to bleed more into the valleys. tomorrow is a nice day. weekend is dry. fog will be the thing we're contending with as we roll into the next three days. interestingly enough, looking down the road, tuesday, the weather pattern sets up super wet. who knows but at the end, the

middle of next week is a wet pattern. >> a few inches? >> if it really sets up, it'll billion more than that. >> really? >> yeah, yeah. and the tree is a 40-foot tall colorado blue spruce. along with the tree lighting there was entertainment provided. the traditional dates back to 1923. market street is a bit brighter tonight. this evening the san francisco art commission released art. people passing by become to be part of the art. project from one artist reflects people passing by.

and you have to see to believe, sports is next. lightning fast. lightning strong.

verizon 4g lte. rule the air on the most advanced 4g network in the world. mark is off tonight, fred is in with sports. sharks played tonight. there was a goal in that game you have to see to believe. >> the last thing the sabers

needed tonight was the sharks help. because i guarantee you, the sharks keep playing that dangerous game of catch up. they won last night in philadelphia, but they couldn't repeat the same thing tonight. they send the puck, off san jose's boyle's head. you can see the put goes off royal's helmet. no he doesn't get an assist for that. this is simply a put, helmet goal. mark edward score his first goal of the season, his first point of the season. but no third quarter miracles tonight. sharks are now 1-14 in buffalo. sharks finish their road trip 3-

2 over all. raiders visit jacksonville sunday. they believe they've found their true identitity. that's simply, run, run and run some more. raiders are much better when mcfadden and michael bush get to carry the ball about 20 times ago. both of them scored a touchdown last sunday in their victory against san diego. oakland is still two games out of the first place and can't afford to lose another one. but the players appreciate being part of a play off conversation here. >> it feels great being here the last couple of years. you get to december, you're ready to go home. but now being out here we have something to look forward to. we're trying to get to the play offs. >> you know like every play is counting, you know every third down counts to get down the feel. i love it. this is my first time playing in games that matters probably since my senior year in high

school. i love it i wouldn't have it any other way. >> woodson fisher would look good as the 49ers head coach. i'm just saying folks. payton manning kept their hopes alive. one a 19 year old touchdown. pierre garcon, check please. indianapolis hanging on. colts are 7-6. and edgar renteria was offered a one year offer to return next season. the giants may actually start their 2011 regular season one day earlier than previously scheduled. major league baseball wants to change the opener to thursday march 31st at at&t park. how about that march 31st on a

thursday night. strange. >> thank you. be sure to join ktvu morning news. they'll have the latest on the series of arm robberies in berkeley. our coverage continues online ktvu.com. thanks so much for joining us. have a good evening everyone. >> good night.