>> dangerous driving conditions, some roadblocks, and headaches for air passengers. how the wet, windy what's impacted travelers across the bay area. the people of oakland have tough questions for their mayor elect. she's due to be sworn in here tomorrow, but we caught up with her and got some answers to the tough questions, today. the homicide rate is defying logic in many cities nationwide. fewer police, and also fewer killings.

good evening. i'm ken wayne. >> and i'm maureen naylor. heather holmes is off tonight. it may be a new year but the same cold, wet weather that ended 2010 is sticking around for the first few days of 2011. we have team coverage, including where it's raining right now and the major california artery that is shut down at this hour. we begin with ali, she is live at sfo with the latest there. ali. >> reporter: maureen, most international flights are on time but the duty manager tells me many domestic flights are experiencing 30 minute up to two hour delays. and it's all because of the weather. jets climb through low-lying clouds in san francisco this morning, because of the rain and strong winds, planes at sfo had to change the direction they usually take off and land. >> we end up having to do the reverse of what we normally do.

and when that happens, we can't handle as many airplanes. >> reporter: the switch is common whenever there is stormy weather, but the result is that many flights face delays at sfo today, some flights were cancelled. >> unfortunately when the stormy weather occurs, this is what we end up with. >> reporter: the first weekend of 2011 greeted the bay area with damp and dreary weather. >> it's freezing. >> reporter: this woman tried to keep warm while waiting for a ride. she spent the holiday weekend with friends in the east bay. >> just wet and damp. but we had a good time. stay inside, keeping warm, but i am ready for some sunshine. i'm really ready for some sunshine. >> reporter: the stormy weather created obstacles for drivers in parts of the north bay. in marin county, storms knocked over a 50 foot tree. the tree spanned the width of sir francis drake boulevard and created a natural overpass for vehicles to pass under. it was a tight squeeze for this tour bus, but it made it through with a few inches of clearance. in martinez, a 40 foot tree fell over near the john muir

house and that blocked part of muir station road. earlier this morning in oakland, part of 580 near 106th avenue was blocked off because of a fatal accident. c.h.p. officers say a 27-year-old man from san lorenzo lost control of his vehicle and hit the center divide. he died at the scene of the accident. >> due to the rain, the roadways were slick. also poor visibility. we urge people, when the weather is like this, just to slow down. >> reporter: and along with exercising caution on the roads, travelers who are coming to san francisco international airport are advised to check their flight status before they leave for the airport. our cals to san jose minetta airport went unreturned but there are no delays to report at oakland international airport. live at sfo, ktvu. the highway patrol this evening has both directions of the grapevine closed down after blowing snow and ice and wind gusts up to 90 miles per hour made driving conditions treacherous. northbound traffic is being

diverted, and southbound traffic is closed from the los angeles kearn county line. there is no word when it may reopen. it's still raining in parts of the bay area right now. mark has the very latest from storm tracker 2. mark. >> ken, the bay area storms today eventually becoming a southern california storm for later on tonight as we head into monday. as far as rainfall totals over the past 24 hours, you can see santa rosa nearly a quarter of an inch and san francisco, .62. the focus of all this activity is mainly the southern half of the bay area closer to gilroy. you can see topping an inch. this is the activity that pushed through the bay area this morning and into the afternoon hours. right now on the maps on live storm tracker 2 this is the loop over the past two hours. get an idea of the overall movement, moving in from this direction, it's all rotating around an area of low pressure. that area of low pressure is heading to our south. here is a closer inspection right now for the southern half of the region. you can see the coverage for at

least south to san francisco, especially towards oakland and approach the south bay as well. around mountainville, san jose showing you at least some light to moderate rainfall. this is still more significant rainfall closer to morgan hill and gilroy. once again, this activity will gradually be on the decrease later on this evening and set the stage for a significant change in the weather pattern. coming up, we'll let you know how many rain clouds are in the five day forecast and the direction temperatures will be heading. ktvu.com has a special section following all the latest weather news including live radar maps and a section on skiing and snowboarding in the sierra. click on the storm tracker 2 tab. a magnitude 3.9 quake struck off the northern california coast this afternoon. the quake was centered 39 miles southwest of eureka. there were no reports of any damage. it's in roughly the same area where a 6.5 magnitude earthquake hit almost a year ago, causing an estimated 12 and a half million dollars in damage to eureka alone.

on his last day in office, governor schwarzenegger has commuted the sentence of the son of a former assembly speaker. estevan nunez was serving a 16 year prison sentence for the stabbing death of a 22-year-old man killed in 2008 during a fight. the governor cut his sentence to just seven years. nunez is the son of former assembly speaker fabian nunez. prosecutor said the young man and his friends were looking for a fight after they were refused entry to a fraternity party at san diego state university. the highway patrol's aggressive maximum enforcement program is wrapping up in a few hours. so far this weekend, dui arrests are down. according to the c.h.p., officers statewide have arrested 873 people for driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. that's down from last year's total of 898 for the same period. here in the bay area, 124 drivers have been arrested for dui since friday. that's down from 160 last year.

but bay area traffic deaths are up. there have been four compared to none last time. last year at this time. statewide, there have been 12 traffic deaths. the highway patrol's maximum enforcement program runs through midnight tonight. history will be made in oakland tomorrow when the city's first woman and asian american will be sworn in as mayor. but there will be little time to celebrate as she faces a host of difficulties. ktvu's christian caften spoke with the mayor elect and has this report. >> reporter: the mayor elect had a very busy day preparing for tomorrow's inauguration. it's set to take place here at the fox theater in oakland. you can see work is under way right now to prepare for that. they're actually polish the front marquis of the theater right now. we caught up with her about an hour ago. and spoke with her, and spoke this portion of the rehearsal and asked her the questions to which many oaklanders want answers. after two decades of public service, first on the school board, then eight years as a

city council won. jean quann will be sworn in as oakland's first asian american and first female mayor tomorrow. quann has appeared at events since winning office including this ceremony remembering oakland's 2010 homicide victims. homicides and crime in general are among the top questions that people of oakland have for their new mayor. >> what i want to know from the new mayor? clean up the crime on the street. you know, there's so much killing, and maybe she can come in and do something. >> murders are hard issue to deal with, because a lot of the young men are involved in murders. young men who don't have a lot of hope. to give them hope you have to do some long term, as well as some short term things. >> reporter: the key, quann says, is education and job training which brings up the other major issue on the minds of oakland voters, economic development. >> i want to know what's going on with the job rates in here in oakland. >> we're really going to focus on job training, particularly for young people. for people who are coming back

from prison. for people who have been laid off and need to retrain themselves. >> a mayor elect -- mayor elect quann's inauguration is set for 11:00 at the fox theater in downtown oakland, a few blocks away from city hall. we talked to quite a few people here and the common theme we heard from people on the streets of oakland today was hope for the future of their city. live in oakland, ktvu. governor elect jerry brown is also preparing for his inauguration day tomorrow. the swearing in ceremony is scheduled for 11 tomorrow morning, at memorial auditorium in sacramento. this will be the third swearing in for brown. he was california's governor for two terms during the 19 70s, and early '80s. back then, he was one of california's youngest governors. tomorrow he will become the state's oldest. outgoing governor arnold schwarzenegger says he plans to attend tomorrow's ceremony for brown. the governor says when he leaves office he will likely hit the speech circuit and possibly write an

autobiography, something he says publishers have been asking him to do for years. swaz energier say -- schwarz energier says he also plans to remain politic' active. the coroner's office identified san francisco's first homicide of the year. police say 20-year-old larry lacey was shot several times around 3:30 p.m. yesterday. he was sitting on the sidewalk at the corner of turk and taylor streets when someone shot him several times and ran off. investigators are trying to figure out what led up to that shooting. so far they say they have no motive or suspect. despite cut backs in police departments around the bay area, the homicide rate has been dropping in many cities. that includes the bay area's largest city which just had to reoriginal its -- reorganize its officers. diane rossi has a live report. >> reporter: ken, the san jose police department have 100 fewer officers than it did here a decade ago and the city has grown. yet, defying logic, homicides have dropped to their lowest levels since the year 2000.

>> one of the safest big cities in the country because of the great work of our police department and our community working together. >> reporter: mayor chuck reed says 20 people were killed in san jose during the year that just ended compared to 28 the year before. it's not just san jose. homicides are declining in many cities. the richmond rate down 50%. oakland, 15. san francisco showed little change, but a 50% drop the year before. salinas and l.a. which follows san jose's gang prevention model saw major reductions. >> we're proud of the san jose model and have to keep on it. we can never turn our back on the gangs because they will come back quickly. >> reporter: under the san jose plan, police, park and rec and community organizations work together to intervene in gangs, but that didn't stop a killing early saturday morning, one hour into the new year. >> [ speaking in spanish ] . >> reporter: florida says a man wearing a ski mask walked up to her son, 15-year-old oscar gonzalez and shot him three

times. the lincoln high school student was standing in front of his house, celebrate the new year with relatives. he died on the front porch where a shrine now stands. [ speaking in spanish ] . >> reporter: gonzalez's aunt says she is worried for her own children until the killer is caught and mayor reed says solving homicides is key to keep the rate down. >> we certainly got started very early in the new year with a gang related homicide. we'll have our people working that to try to prevent retaliation, arrest the perpetrators, and take care of those matters as we have in the past. but it's not a good start to the year. >> reporter: last year the san jose police department eliminated the violent crime enforcement team but the mayor says the officers who have been absorbed into the metro unit are making top priority to get gangsters off the streets, keeping the number of homicides down. live in san jose, ktvu, channel 2 news. the holidays may be over but an oakland organization today continued its efforts to help feed those in need.

the breaking bread organization prepared meals for dozens of the less fortunate today. at the apartment c bar and grill on international boulevard. the group helps and feeds people in the community monthly but today was its annual feed the hungry and homeless event. >> we're giving back to the community and people who are less fortunate after the holidays and the new year, when people are sad and really in need of a give back and some love. >> they have been here for years doing it. it's nice and i love it. they're good focus and it's great. to see the community, and the love. >> the breaking bread organization usually offers meals to people on the first saturday of the month. a major earthquake strikes off the coast of chile, sparking fierce of a tsunami. also ahead, after years of political wrangling. the president signs the 9/11 first responders bill. see why today's bill signing was a little bit different. an arkansas wildlife officials have a mystery on their hands. what caused thousands of birds to die and fall out of the sky.

>> news of the world tonight an earthquake shook the same region of chile that suffered a devastating quake last year. today's quake measured 7.1 and was centered about 370 miles south of the capital of santiago. thousands of people in coastal cities rushed for higher ground, remembering last february's quake that generated a deadly tsunami. the milder quake today disrupted power and communications, but so far, no injuries or major damage are reported. in brazil, there was a touchy diplomatic moment for hillary clinton late yesterday. she shook hands with venezuela president hugo chavez while attending the inauguration of brazil's new president. chavez, famously referred to former president bush as the devil in a united nations

speech in 2006. relations between the u.s. and venezuela are still sour after the handshake, chavez said that quote, in truth, he wants to be a friend to president obama. smokers in spain grabbed a last cigarette in their favorite cafes last night. today, a new law stamps out smoking inside public spaces, and some outdoor areas, such as school grounds. spain is the last country in europe to impose the smoking ban. the law still allows smoking on outside terraces, a common feature in restaurants there. busy people predict the ban will cost thousands of jobs but the government said similar bans did not hurt long term busy in other countries. on his last full day of vacation in hawaii, president obama signed the bill to provide federal healthcare coverage for 9/11 first responders. today's signing was slightly unconventional. the white house staff delivered the bill to oahu today for a private signing by the president. to become law, the bill had to be signed before mr. obama returns to washington on

tuesday. the measure covers the cost of medical care for rescue workers and others sickened by toxic fumes and dust created by the 2001 attacks. in a statement, mr. obama said quote, we will never forget the selfless courage demonstrated by the firefighters, police officers, and first responders who risked their lives to save others. i believe this is a critical step for those who continue to bear the physical scars of those attacks, end quote it sounds like a scene from a hitchcock movie. arkansas wildlife officials are trying to figure out what killed thousands of birds, which mysteriously fell from the sky yesterday. an estimated 5000 dead black birds were found in yards and on roof tops in roads in the town of beebee, arkansas. wildlife officials say their deaths could be weather related. there were tornadoes around the same time about 150 miles away, or possibly stress related due to fireworks which were shot off for new year's. they also suspect hail or

lightning in recent days also could have injured the birds. we're having a little -- >> started at 7:00, picking up birds on the street in the yards. it's been run over, and -- just a mess. >> wildlife officials are set to perform tests tomorrow on some deabirds to try to determine what killed them. here at home rain in the area. a rainy christmas and new year's. mark, looks like that rain is continuing today but changes ahead. >> that's right. the rain will move to the south, heading towards southern california. that will set the stage for a completely different pattern over the next few days. right now on the maps, i can't show you on live storm tracker 2. the coverage right now focused in the southern half of the bay area. you can pick out especially south of san francisco. there's the san mateo bridge. and right around san leandro. and hayward in fact showing light rain showers. heading south you can see coverage for santa cruz, boulder creek. the significant rainfall, darker green towards morgan

hill and the yellows around santa cruz county as well. still, this will be the focus of the rainfall in the short term, but as the system moves to the south, the rainfall rates that will gradually taper off as we head into later this evening. your bay area forecast for tonight, we have to hold on to the chance of some showers especially in the southern half of the region for tomorrow. partly cloudy skies, and the extended forecast, a dry pattern, and it's been too chilly for you. temperatures actually warming up a bit also into thursday. overnight lows, first thing tomorrow morning under partly cloudy skies, you can see the 30s and maybe a few 40s for san francisco and pacifica. liver more, 383 and vallejo around 39. an active weather pattern over the past 24 hours. this area of low pressure, approach the bay area. you can see it's tracked for today. we had the showers today, the cool pattern. but look what happens as this heads out of town. high pressure returns and this is a dry weather pattish. temperatures -- pattern. temperatures warm u a little bit, minor bump in the numbers

for tuesday, wednesday into thursday. the main concern will be the patchy valley fog, especially for the central and inland valleys in the bay area, we could have fog in place that could impact your visibilities during the morning hours. for the sierra, a winter weather advisory in place until 10:00 this evening. snow fall will be on the order of 2 to four inches. nothing major here and snow levels right around 3500 feet. here is our cloud forecast, though. right now we have the clouds, even the rain showers focused in the southern half of the region. at 10:00 tonight, we should have still scattered clouds and then we'll put this into motion into tomorrow morning. partly cloudy but the forecast model gradually scales back on the coverage as we head into the afternoon hours of monday. so, for tomorrow morning, the bay area forecast, 35 to 45 degrees, will be chilly out there. and then by a 12:00, many we should have 47 to 52 with partly cloudy skies. and then into the afternoon hours by 3:00, fair skies. temperatures mainly in the low to mid 50s for afternoon highs. san jose 55, san mateo 53. here's a look ahead.

your five-day forecast and look at this, maureen and ken. no rain clouds. you can see temperatures warm up a little bit. the extended model hinting at maybe a few more showers developing by next weekend, but enjoy the break while we have it. >> and no 60s. so still cool out there. >> maybe by friday a few spots around 60. >> thanks, mark. hot mail users are complaining about hundreds of lost or deleted e-mail images. microsoft which runs the e-mail service isn't commenting on what caused the problem or how widespread it is. hundreds of complaints have been posted by hot mail users. the company says it's working to resolve the issue. hot mail is the world's most used web based e-mail service. with 360 million registered accounts. they are the most popular sites on the internet. we'll tell you whether google or facebook had the most visitors in 2010.

>> yet another example of its growing popularity. palo alto-based facebook was the top internet site in 2010. according to a new study from an internet research firm. facebook accounted for almost 9% of all u.s. website visits.

google which had been number one slid to second place with just over seven% of visits -- 7% of visits, followed bia >> and youtube. fred is here now to tell us thousand nfl season has come to an end in the bay area. >> we can say at least it ended on a positive note for both teams. how is that? from the dubious distinction department the oakland raiders became the first team since 1970, nfl and afl merger to sweep their own division and not make the playoffs. an 8-8 record is a step forward and head coach tom cable may have saved his job as the raiders became the only team this season to beat the playoff bound sheets in kansas city. michael bush scores this in the 24áeud quarter. he ran for 137 yards today. jacobi ford seems to make a big play in every game. ford on the reverse. scores to make it 24-10.

raiders. then chiefs quarterback matt calf gets picked -- 3459 castle gets picked. route brings it back, oakland wins 31-10 after seven straight years of double digit losses the raiders finish 500, 8-8. arizona take on the 49ers and interim head coach jim tomsula. alex smith, perhaps his last game as a 49er, hits at the time gwynn, jr. 37 yard touchdown. niners score first and led 13-7 at half time. 3rd quarter, alex smith to vernon davis. and how about vernon? a 59 yard touchdown, his seventh of the year. cardinals had their bags packed by this time and they have major quarterback issues, too. here is your bun. richard bartell who over3 niners. tarell brown is there and was about to score his first nfl touchdown. 62 yards. niners win it 38-7 to finish 6- 10. get the seventh overall draft pick but jim tomsula is undefeated as an nfl head coach! >> i mean they just played their hearts out, and they

finished, you know? and it was just a -- that was just football when you see those guys with smiles on their face, and that's -- and pure football. and just playing football, and having fun. basketball season is officially under way. 20ed the cal women had the daunting task of taking on red hot stanford. they hosted the cardinals today. fourth ranked xavier and top ranked connecticut last week. they wasted little time today. jeanette, 15 points for her. 37-18 at half time. the issue for stanford was to go home healthy. nekka driving to the hoop. she falls. scores 14 and goes on to win. that's sports. thanks, fred. that's our report. >> have a good night.