how a brand-new federal report on the disaster of on september 9th with san bruno focuses on the gas line and the pressure. >> reporter: hundreds of pink slips are expected to be handed out to yahoo! workers. we'll tell you who will be out of work and what analysts say to blame. and rain clouds cover the

bay area. good afternoon. we begin this noontime with a release a short time ago of a report of the explosion in san bruno. the ntsb has spent the several months examineth pipeline at the center of the disaster and trying to identify the cause. kraig debro joins us with details on the report and reaction to it. >> reporter: good afternoon. the ntsb just a couple of hours ago released its latest set of findings on the gas rupture and explosion. the report was posted online around 10:00 this morning. you can go on there right now and get it yourself. a meeting, a press conference between jackie speier and the mayor of san bruno was held a second ago. a report was posted online just a couple of hours ago. some of the findings are. now the gas transmission line

that ruptured has touched off an explosion that lasted hours. eight people died. 37 homes were destroyed and another 18 damaged. the seamless people is at the isn't sent -- is at the center of this event. they say this report is a factual account of what they know so far. but the report says the outer surfaces of the ruptured pipe pieces revealed no evidence of external corrosion. that means no dense gouges or other physical indications consistent with excavation were observed. now, additional, it says no physical evidences suggests that a preexisting leak occurred and ruptured pieces. jackie speier says in some ways enough is already known about what happened. >> eight people's lives were  lost. i think that speaks for itself. >> reporter: an earlier finding by the ntsb might tell the

public where the investigation is heading, and there's a suggestion that the gas volume in the pipe might have had something to do with the r upture. the ntsb said 375 pounds gauged. in the october report, ntsb says pg&e was operating a 30- inch seamless line above that maximum standard set by the nss -- n tsb's gauges. >> we've now ruled out c orrosion, a preexisting leak and a piercing of the pipe by some excavation. so we know move on to looking for yet another cause. >> there's no outcome as far as, you know, what caused this horrific disaster in our community. but in fact, it's -- it's another step in the progression to find out what did.

they have eliminated a few things which is good. >> reporter: and both jim moran and jackie speier have been to the ntsb investigation headquarters and they say that in looking at some of the other investigations going on there, similar to this one, there was a pipe rupture in florida. it turned out that that pipe rupture had to do with fatigue and not pressure in the pipes. so they are being cautious about not drawing any conclusions. there will be a town hall m eeting on that. but other than that, the ntsb is going to respond. they are going to have a news conference on that. ken pritchett will be following that for the 5:00 news. reporting live in san mateo, kraig debro, ktvu channel 2 n ews. >> thank you, kraig. some rain put a damper on the morning commute. are we done with the rain for now or is some still falling? >> still a little bit. most of it was this morning but occasionally bands are going through giving us light rain,

but some decent totals, especially toward the north. there a lot of cloud cover streaming toward the pacific. today is more clouds than anything else. it's on the mild side. things are starting to pick up a little bit. it was very windy rain for a while up in the sierra. that's since turned to know. you can see some of the coverage is by ginning to increase -- beginning to increase. after that it find of -- kind of tails off. this is just a little teaser of what's to come later in the week. we'll have more on that in our weather segment. >> all right. look forward to that. thank you. not good news for the local economy, silicon valley giant yahoo! is getting ready to hand out hundreds of pink slips possibly as soon as today. tara moriarty has more. >> reporter: good afternoon,

tori. no official word from yahoo! yet on these pending layoffs but we've been told by an inside source that we could see people with pink slips starting to walk out of the building in about two or three hours. security has been beefed up around the grounds here. this will be swift. the insiders tell us that all of the managers went layoff t raining yesterday. let's take a look at some video we shot. these are folks getting off the bus. they are in the products division. our products say people in that department have been on edge. that's because most of the s pending job cuts are, this the fourth round of layoffs. >> this is a very time of year. people go home without a job. people aren't hiring.

most people are on vacation. you are treating people like equipment a that you get rid o f -- equipment that you get rid of at the end of the year. >> reporter: analysts say they handed the search engine over to microsoft. some had said that ceo carol b artz is not the right fit for yahoo!, others, including bartz, says turning this company around is going to take a year or two. these are highly-paid positions, these layoffs, engineers with six-figure salaries who are well trained and can jump to twitter and google. we were told they did know about these layoffs in advance sore -- advance for the past to -- past two or three months. apparently yahoo! execs have been really keeping

quiet on this whole issue. not only on the inside but the outside as well. we're live in sunnyvale, tara moriarty. >> thank you. a bay area soldier has been killed in afghanistan. the military says derrick of r edwood city was among six american soldiers killed sunday, when their unit was attacked by an improvised unit. he's survived by his wife, kimberly. the virginia man accused of kidnapping a 12-year-old girl and taking her to san francisco is going back to virginia. jeffrey scott easley waved extracation. he will be transferred in the next few days. on friday, a shopper spotted him and the girl outside the safeway on by ocean beach. he's also suspected of -- suspected of killing the girl's mother. the girl flew home yesterday to be reunited with her father. he was able to speak on the

phone with her after she was found. >> i thought it was my daughter. i thought i recognized her v oice, but i was thinking, you know, it's too good to be true. i can't believe it. >> benjamin smith said he asked his daughter for the names of her dogs. so he could make sure it was really her. a man suspected of -- of sexually assaulting a girl will be in court today. she was shopping with her family on friday night at the time but wandered away to look for her brothers in the toy section. the girl came back and toll her parents what happened. the parents yelled for help, and two men grabbed limb and held him until police arrived. the mother of the son accused of the killings in

vacaville is speaking out. she did not want to show us her face or give out her name. >> they take him there, push him on floor and then he heard the girl crying and crying and then he said, they robbed me. they took all of my clothes and threw me on the bed. >> her son is accused of raping a 13-year-old girl and repeatedly stabbing her brother. the two children were home at the time. the young suspect is currently in juvenile hall as the investigation continues. police say he does have a criminal past. still to come -- problems could be ahead for b.a.r.t. passengers who use e.z. rider cards. why they may have trouble g etting through the turnstile. >> are we about to see even more rain? channel 2 meteorologist steve paulson will be here and will have the complete bay area forecast. >> reporter: i'm paul chambers

in san francisco, where new equipment needed to keep the bay bridge project on time has arrived. i'll have the details -- coming up.

the san francisco board of supervisors will begin the process of choosing a new mayor

but mayor newsom said he may delay farther p starting at lieutenant-governor if the board does not select an appropriate person,' calls it. his term begins january 3rd. but-- but he could delay the swearing in january 8th. that's when a new board of supervisors is cheated -- s eated. under the chart he, the board can only appoint one mayor once the position is vacant. the senate is expected to approve the tax package today that was negotiated by president obama and republican lawmakers. it would then move on to the house. leaders there say changes are likely before they vote on it. house democrats have made it clear they want to make the

estate tax provisions less generous to the rich. republicans are angry about other extras like tax breaks for clean energy. if approved, the bill would push back tax increases for all americans that are due to take effect january 1st. world leaders are praising richard holbrooke. the veteran diplomat passed away at the able of 69. he's known for negotiating the peace agreement that ended the war in bosnia. he was most recently president obama's special envoy to afghanistan and pakistan. holbrooke died last night f ollowing surgery for a torn aorta. just hours earlier the president praised him in a speech. richard holbrooke has been serving this nation with distinction for nearly 50 years. richard is relentless. he never stops. he never quits. >> holbrooke maintained a hectic travel schedule and was in pakistan recently -- as recently as last month.

swedish prosecutors are challenging the bail granted this morning to the founder of wikileaks. he will remain in a jail until the appeal is heard by the high courts. that will happen in 38 hours. he's been in a london prison for a week since surrendering because of a swedish arrest warrant in a sex crimes investigation. assange denies wrongdoing and his lawyer says he plans to fight extradition. progress on the new bay bridge continues but mostly out of site. caltrans is preparing for another visibility portion of the project to be installed. some important pieces of the new eastern pan have arrived. after some recent setbacks, caltrans hopes the weather will cooperate. paul chambers has more.

>> reporter: these light pieces will be added in the bridge deck segment. today workers began unloadings pieces by using a specially- made crane. the main tower for the construction bridge is c onstructed with four legs, almost like a stool. so the next lift goes up to about the 300-foot level. >> reporter: the whist is e xpected to be complete by christmas -- lift is expected to be complete by christmas. it will be taller than the coit tower and the tribune b uilding in oakland. yesterday, there was a delay because of bad weather in the pacific. crews expected this to arrive sometime last week. however, caltrans hopes that was a temporary setback. it's still predicted to open the more than $6 billion span with traffic in both directions. four to six months than originally predicted. >> it's very important that we have timely shipments --

shipments of the material. we have a lot of momentum built right now. crews are gonna work and we'll watch that very closely over the next few weeks. >> reporter: as crews add segments in place, it will impact your traffic. how much? we do not know at this time. caltrans say they will elaborate at that at a press conference tomorrow. in san francisco, i'm paul chambers, ktvu channel 2 news. thousands of b.a.r.t. riders may be in for an unpleasant surprise starting tomorrow. passengers who use the e.z. rider cards will find they don't work anymore. riders are urged to use the clipper cards. b.a.r.t. said they've sent out notifications. canadian authorities rescued about 150 people stranded on a snow-swept highway. they were stuck overnight on highway 402 in ontario.

that's about 65 miles northeast of detroit. about a dozen of those trapped had to be airlifted to safety by military helicopters. they were stuck due to drifting snow and zero visibility on the highway. there are no deaths among the hundreds who endured the long and hard night. nothing that dramatic here but, there is a little storm coming? >> at the end of the week. a little rain, about .25. heavier amounts the farther north you go. it's another gray, gloomy day. i haven't seen the sun in two days. maybe you have. but i haven't. a lot of:00 continues to stream? -- stream in. occasionally a couple bands go by and you get light rain the but it will continue to march in by the next few days and by friday and saturday it will intensify and we are looking

for what could be some rather significant rain. today we had a lot of cloud cover, some of that rain is t urning to snow but at last check tahoe said light rain, stretching there. it's light bands coming in. occasionally some drizzle. cloudy, a little breezy. but that seems to be calming down tonight. there seems to be some fog. but if you need to get out, the next few days we'll get a break. the system right there continues to just go west to east and as it does, it is not cold at all which is why we're in a mild air mass. upper 50s and very low 60s. but a lot of upper 50s on the temperatures. current temperatures, 57, 58, 59. palo alto, 59. livermore, concord, 59. the moisture source will just keep right on going and intensify as we head towards the end of the week. so your forecast today, as we said a lot of gray skies, a

little mist, drizzle, cloudy skies. rain for most but that was mainly this morning. the break is tomorrow into thursday. but be prepared by friday and saturday. if you have plans you might want to go to a plan-b. i think we'll get rained out. cloudy, the rain, though, mainly the heaviest amounts are to the north. wednesday/thursday, a little bit of a break and then rain comes back in and then rain comes in on saturday and could carry us all the way into christmas. >> wow. >> there are projections -- these are warm systems, not cold but they may go all the way next week. inmates in santa clara county are helping needy children have a happy holiday. they made 400 toys at the e lmwood correctional . if. today they were give be dave dash given to the marines toys for tots program. inmates say they enjoy having something to occupy their time and they like giving back to the community. to know that some kid out there

who doesn't have the luxuries of toys and things like that are gonna be holding something that i made for them is a great f eeling. this is the 10th year elmwood inmates have helped out toys for tots. they've made close to 3,000 toys during that time. still ahead -- new, better than expected numbers are out -- are out. and. and the golden globe nominations were announced t oday. who got the most nods -- up.

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americans continue to l ooseen their grips on their wallet. this morning, the commerce reported november retail sales were up 8/10ths of a percent. this is the fifth month in a row retail sales have gone up. san francisco supervisors vote today on the city's bid to host the america cup but they may face a challenge. american cup organizers have opened negotiations with n ewport, rhode island to hold the race there. race organizers have made it clear they are not happy -- happy with san francisco's latest proposal. find-- the final bid is friday. a city committee will decide whether to spend $250,000 in redevelopment money for a ballpark study. lew wolff wants to move the t

eam. but such a move requires approval by mlb and the giants claim santa clara as their territory -- territory. "black swan," "the fighter," "inception," "the king speech," "the social network." >> that was katie holmes reading the nominees. "the king speech" has the most nominations overall with seven and the social network and the fighter tied with six n ominations each. the golden globes will be given out january 16th. coming up at 5:00, a wild brawl that started inside a petaluma bar. one person -- one person went to the hospital. it's just one of a number of recent bar fights. law enforcement officials say maybe taxes their sore -- r

esources at a time when funds and resources are stretched tight. that story and more coming up at 5:00 on the news. thanks for watching. have a great day.