good morning. a busy stretch of highway shut down for hours this morning after one person is killed in a crash. so far so good on the bay area commute including a check on bridges. not as cold this morning. temperatures mid-40s. but can we see some upper 50s to 60s and any sun? plus firefighters are still on the scene of a fire in san jose. what makes this one different for them? the morning news continues.

good morning. thank you for joining us. it's wednesday january 12th. i'm pam cook. >> good morning. i'm dave clark. let's check your weather and traffic. here's steve. pam and dave, thank you very much. we have cloudy skies and temperatures mid to upper 40s. 20s, no. 30s, no. two days ago that's what we were talking about. a very tough call on the forecasted highs. any sun and you'll be near 60 degrees. if you can't get that sun and it stays cloudy, low to mid- 50s. here's sal. steve, right now westbound highway 4 traffic looks pretty good coming up to the willow pass grade. this morning if you're on westbound 24 that traffic is light so far on the way to oakland. 6:01. let's go back to the desk. thank you. in the news right now south bay very busy stretch of highway is reopening now after a deadly overnight crash. that crash happened just after

2:00 a.m. on eastbound highway 237 just east of lawrence expressway. the chp says at least four cars were involved in this and somehow the victim who was killed ended up in the westbound lanes. the chp just told us the freeway is reopening now and we'll keep you posted on the very latest. we want to update you on this hour's developing news from san jose. right now crews are investigating an early morning fire at a pot club. so far there's no official word on the cause of the fire at the herb appeal pot club on drake street. but one witness says a downed power line started it. ktvu's kraig debro is on the scene talking with investigators right now, and witnesses. he's going to have a live update coming up at 6:30. time now 6:02. nearly $400,000 in donations will finally be handed out to the victims of the san bruno pipeline disaster. last night the city council voted to accept a plan to divide up the money among dozens of families. the money came from around the

world and was at the center of an emotional controversy. many disaster victims feel that the city took far too long in coming one this plan. we spoke to one frustrated woman who didn't want to show her face. >> i shouldn't have to stand up in a room full of people and ask or beg. it should be given. their people donated it to them and it should be given to them. >> dozens of families whose homes were destroyed will receive $6,000. those who had moderate damage will get $4,000. families who had just minor damage to their property will get $1,000. the city plans to start sending out the checks some time next week. meantime a man tied to a pipeline explosion scam now faces three years in prison. yesterday 41-year-old pleaded no contest to several felony charges including grand theft and identity theft. prosecutors say he pretended to be an explosion victim so he

could get a free hotel room, a rental car and gift cards. san francisco man is set to become a free man today after spending 18 years in prison for a double murder. yesterday a judge ordered his release after ruling that he'd been wrongly convicted of fatally shooting two people in hunters point in 1989. newly appointed d.a. made the call to formally drop the charges. conly's attorney says it took several years to prove police allowed a key witness to lie on the stand about getting money and protection from police. >> what's clear is that these police were willing to take shortcuts and violate the constitution in order to get convictions. >> he's now 40 years old. the court ruled he could also file a civil lawsuit within the next year. time now 6:04. president obama will be in arizona tonight for a memorial service for the victims of that mass shooting in tucson. among other things, he's expected to call for unity.

last night mourners packed a church just blocks from that shooting scene. a safeway supermarket, that's where six people were killed on saturday. several others were wounded. the rampage is being called an assassination attempt against congresswoman gabrielle giffords. giffords' husband is at her side in the hospital. and doctors now say her prognosis is good. >> she's making some signs she might open her eyes soon. >> now the suspect, jared loughner, is being held without bail. they found handwritten notes at his home within including the words "die." the other said "die cops." a former tub ron resident is among the shooting victims. the 58-year-old was shot in the chest, the stomach and the hip. she took her 9-year-old neighbor, christina green, to congresswoman giffords' event to try to teach the little girl

about politics. his husband says his wife was holding little christina's hand when that shooting started. that little girl was killed. we are learning that it was a botched kidnapping attempt that triggered a deadly shootout at a san jose club over the weekend. police say the shooting started after three gunmen barged into the mexicali club on saturday night and they were there to kidnap the club owner because of an alleged debt. investigators say two of those gunmen and another man was killed. the owner was wounded but he is expected to survive. now police are looking for two suspects. one of them this man. hector, the alleged get away driver. the second suspect's name has not been released. time now 6:06. a man seriously hurt in one of two weekend brawls at a san francisco nightclub has now died. police say the victim, the 30- year-old ucsf medical student was knocked unconscious at the temple nightclub early sunday morning. he was taken off life support yesterday. now two other men were hurt in another brawl at the same club

that night. no arrests have been made and the police aren't saying if the two fights are related. that nightclub is now under orders to tighten up its security procedures. san francisco's new mayor plans to hit the ground running starting today. >> do solemnly swear. >> that i will support -- >> former city administrator took the oath as interim mayor yesterday afternoon. he is now san francisco's first chinese-american mayor. he says as a former civil rights attorney he will watch out for all marginalized groups which are those that feel powerless. >> i do recognize the importance of today, what it marks for other people as well. i'm going to keep that social promise on every decision we make every day. >> and mayor lee tells us his first priorities are tackling a $360 million budget deficit and hiring a new police chief. well, san francisco's fuzz board of supervisors with four

new members voted unanimously to appoint lee to fill the remainder of gavin newsom's term. lee says in the coming days he plans to meet individually with each of the eleven supervisors and looks forward to establishing a relationship with them based on mutual respect. former mayor newsom often had contentious relationships with the members. an earlier crash this morning and paul chambers is live out there now with the latest. where are you and what happened, paul? >> reporter: we're at highway 237 just before the eastbound lawrence expressway. you can see traffic is running fairly smoothly right now. but it was reopened about 30 minutes ago after being closed for three hours after a fatal accident overnight. now if we can take a look at video here. highway patrol says just after 2:00 this morning one person was killed in an accident involving up to four vehicles. the accident happened on highway 237 just east of lawrence expressway in sunny vale. it was first reported that the crash involved two vehicles but

chp later stated it could have been up to four vehicles involved. the person who died as a result of the accident was found on the westbound side of highway 237. but chp says it was unclear if that person was ejected from a vehicle or was standing on the roadway and was hit by oncoming traffic. come back here live once again you can see the roadway has been reopened. traffic is running smoothly in both directions. once again the person that died as a result of this was found on the westbound portion. police are not sure whether that person was walking on the roadway or possibly ejected from a vehicle. we of course will stay on top of this and bring the latest as it develops. live in sunny vale, paul chambers, ktvu channel 2 news. time now 6:09. new analysis comes out today on just how effective those peak hour tolls are on the bay bridge. ktvu's claudine wong is live in san francisco now with more on this report. good morning, claudine. >> reporter: good morning, dave. yes, let me show you where we are. we're at howard and fremont street this morning because you see this stretch of sidewalk and road right there, that's where the casual car poolers come on in after they cross the

bay bridge and drop the people off. we've been talking to them this morning about this congestion pricing. we wanted to know what they think. this morning the bay area toll authority is going to hear what uc berkeley thinks about congestion pricing. the new pricing system all went into effect in july. when it went into effect the bay area toll authority said what they hoped is that it would drop congestion by 20% or 30% during the peak hours. the idea of congestion pricing is if you raise the pricing during peak hours drivers will be more motivated to drive in the nonpeak hours and that will make the commute a little easier. but has it been working? uc berkeley was hired at a $250,000 contract to take a look at that issue and they will present their findings this morning at a meeting to the bay area toll authority. we've been asking casual car poolers if they think it's working. >> not in the car pool it's not. not in the car pool lanes. it seems to be less. there's a few less cars, but we

still have the same regulars all the time. >> yeah, actually, it's less congestion. i mean at this time of the day i don't see as many people as before for sure. it's been a definite slow down on the road. >> reporter: so back out here live on fremont and howard where these casual car poolers are coming in, the people we talked to this morning are giving us mixed reviews. it appears the experts have mixed reviews as well. this meeting is at 9:00 this morning. bay area toll authority getting a really good look six months in if this is making a difference. initial data that they have gathered says it is taking down congestion a little bit. but that will be an important report to look at throughout this morning. live here in san francisco, claudine wong, ktvu channel 2 news. all right. 6:11 is the time. let's go back over to sal who is covering any traffic problems this morning. that's right. i think it's made a slight difference, pam and dave, just from watching the traffic after they did that july 1st congestion pricing. we'll explain more as the morning wears on.

right now let's go to the east shore freeway westbound as you head out to the macarthur maze. no major problems. if you get to the toll plaza right now traffic is moving well. the 6:15 or so when the metering lights come on that's when traffic usually gets crowded. it's kind of hard to say because obviously we've had a situation where a lot of people have lost their jobs and while that may be one of the causes of seeing lighter traffic as well. i'm sure the uc berkeley people took that into account. westbound 5 0 getting up from livermore to castro valley looks good. 880 north and southbound in hayward and fremont focus on that real quick. hayward, union city and fremont that traffic looking good in both directions. at 6:12 let's go to steve. thank you, sir. we have cloudy skies and a little fog forming just looking at the web camera from san jose state's meteorology department. now it's starting to get a little misty fog.

cloudy morning. therein lies the key. around 2,000 feet then you get the sun. it's very mild on the lows which means we would warm up. but therein lies the rule. if you can get that cloud cover to burn off after that appears no rain for a while. temperatures in san francisco have come up along with everybody else dramatically since monday. currently it's 47 degrees. twin peaks is the coolest. coal valley in there. twin peaks 45. the warmest mission bay at 50. there's a lot of upper hos, 48s and 49s. temperatures 20s and 30s two days ago. now 43 fairfield overcast. antioch is 44 and overcast. san jose fog forming and 48. santa rosa 45. napa 45. same for vallejo, concord, redwood city 47. mountain view 46. san mateo 48. santa rosa our target forecast today starting off at 45.

cloudy, mostly cloudy 50 at noon 53 at 4:00. again, you got to give me a mull began here because if the cloud cover burns off you'll be warmer than that. if it stays you'll be in the category i'm forecasting the high. very tough call on the forecasted highs today. system that clipped us yesterday left a little bit of rain. not much. just a couple 100s. sacramento 43. fresno 42. one more to go and that's the one to the left. there's not much there. it will give us cloudy skies and a possibility of some light rain to the north and then after that high pressure builds in and extremely cold conditions are forecasted for the midwest and northeast as we go into the weekend and next weekend. we'll sit here with high pressure and maybe some very warm conditions by the coast. the key though will be the fog in the valley. 42 to 50 at 7:00 a.m. and then we'll have mostly cloudy skies, little bit of sun coming through, 46 to 56. then by this afternoon 50 to 60, clouds, sun, mild.

brentwood 53. santa rosa 53. 56 richmond. oakland 57. san francisco 55. 60 mountain view. san jose, santa cruz. redwood city 59. mid-50s closer towards the east bay and also out towards any of that fog. mostly cloudy thursday, then fog and sun warmer friday and then looks like fog or sun and mild conditions on the weekend. >> all right. sounds good. the report card is in for california schools. how our state compares to the rest of the country. president obama heads to tucson to address the nation about the shooting tragedy there. i'll show you what he plans to say coming up as the morning news continues.

welcome back to the morning news. president obama will call for national unity as he travels to tucson tonight to pay tribute to the shooting victims there. ktvu's allison burns is live in our washington d.c. newsroom to talk more about what the president will say. allison. >> reporter: good morning to you, pam. the white house is making clear this is not a political speech or a political trip. president obama has been working on his message since monday. he will pay tribute to the victims and the heros who responded to the tragedy. and he'll call for a renewed focus, national focus, on public service. meanwhile back here in d.c. members of congress are holding a rare bipartisan meeting on security today. we talked to the senate sergeant in arms who says

lawmakers must do a better job reporting their security concerns. >> the members and their staff do so many of these events it becomes routine. what we want to emphasize is number one they always have to tell us about their concerns about, about the threats, about the letters, about someone who walks in. >> reporter: now one lawmaker is calling for the house and senate chambers are to be enclosed inplex glass here at the capital. other lawmakers to get a boost in their personal security budgets and still other lawmakers say there really shouldn't be any changes at all. for now live in washington d.c., allison burns, ktvu channel 2 news. thank you. i want to show you new video coming in right now of vice president joe biden arriving in pakistan today. if we can get to that. there he is right there. just stepping off a plane. this is an unannounced visit there. the vice president is meeting with government officials in pakistan. he'll also be stopping in to meet with u.s. troops.

following the meeting with pakistan's prime minister, the vice president said the united states is not involved in a war on pakistan, but he did say that violent extremists have found a refuge in some of the most remote parts of pakistan. california's public schools received a c and ranked 30th in the nation in an annual survey. california's score drops slightly from last year when it received a c plus. for the third year in a row maryland is ranked above all other states receiving a b plus. at the bottom are nebraska, south dakota and the district of columbia. our time now 6:20. sal's going to help you get to where you need to go. is it okay to look at the toll plaza now? >> i give it a b plus. maybe an a. i'm an easy grader though. let's go out and take a look at what we have here with the toll plaza. it's getting a little crowded as you might expect. but it's not all that bad. the metering lights should be on very soon. when that happens we'll see a bigger crowd.

i don't think that the bay bridge is performing up to its potential though. let's go out and take a look at 880 north and southbound. traffic is moving along very well as you drive past the coliseum. no major issues there. and as we look at the freeway a little farther down you can see traffic is moving along relatively well. we don't have too many -- in fact right now as i look at the collision list from chp it is scant. there's not a lot going on. 6:20. let's go to steve. sal, we have mostly cloudy skies, san jose has a few breaks in the clouds which means they're in the upper 40s. 60 is very likely today. we have cloudy skies. san francisco 47. that's much better than a couple days ago when we had 20s and 30s. san francisco had temperatures in the upper 30s a couple days ago. a lot of very cold readings. that pattern has changed a little bit. system that came by and gave us very, very scant amount of rain yesterday. 47 san francisco. santa rosa, napa, 45.

oakland is 48. concord livermore 44. and san jose 47. and they are reporting san jose airport partly cloudy skies. everyone else says cloudy. there's another system left on your screen heading north. it will drag over us tomorrow to keep clouds in the forecast. mild with some sun today. and it will be warmer. 50 to 60. again, if the cloud cover burns off you can add about four or five degrees to these highs. if it doesn't this is where you'll be. low 50s for some, mid-50s and upper 50s and even 60. more of the same on thursday. then it's either fog or sun. with the sun mid-60s are likely by the weekend. if you have the fog probably the 40s or low 50s. pam and dave. shelve ron corporation is predicting higher fourth quarter results than the third quarter when it earned $3.8 billion. the san ramon companies will

boost both u.s. and international production of petroleum and natural gas were higher in october and november than during previous months. they report earnings on january 28th. the winners of a multimillion dollar settlement over who founded facebook now want the judgment thrown out. tyler and cameron were harvard classmates with mark. in 2008 he was order today pay them $65 million. now they say facebook lawyers and executives misrepresented the value of the company and they should get even more money. time now 6:23. one bay area city is claiming it's found a way to reduce gang violence. but critics are saying it's a waste of money and resources. good morning westbound traffic moving along very well until you reach the antioch area and slow again in bay point. we'll tell you what's going on in the east bay commute straight ahead.

good morning. right now traffic is doing pretty well at the toll plaza although the metering lights have been switched on and now we're getting a bit of a back up here. no major problems on the bridge itself heading into san francisco. well, the debate is heating up over oakland's controversial plan to expand its battle against gang violence.

the city wants a second gang injunction. this one in the city's fruit vale district. now the injunction would prohibit suspected gang members from carrying guns or even loitering in the area. the plan set off an emotional debate at oakland city hall last night. >> what we need is a re- prioritizing of the money that is being spent on the gang injunctions to go into community programs, into saving our education system. >> there have been significant reduction in violence in north oakland. >> north oakland is where the city's first gang injunction went into effect last summer. next month a judge is expected to rule on oakland's request for a second gang injunction in the fruit vale district. your time is now 6:27. in just about an hour from now facebook will unveil a very important new feature design to help find missing children. it's going to allow facebook users to sign up to receive amber alerts about kidnapped children in their area. the announcement comes one day

before the 15th anniversary of the abduction of 9-year-old amber hagerman of texas. her kidnapping and murder prompted the creation of the nationwide amber alert system. our time is now 6:27. we're still following developing news from san jose. firefighters actually sat and watched an early morning fire as it burned. we're going to get a live report on the very latest. you want some fiber one honey clusters?

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welcome back to the morning news. they are just ringing that opening bell this morning. it looks like it's going to be a pretty good day. not a huge day, but pretty good on the upside following gains overnight in asia and then also this morning in europe. some optimism over solving or at least helping the debt problems in portugal and spain. that's going to help bring some

money in. there's a live look at the new york stock exchange. the traders there on the floor as the market gets trading. and you can see lower part of your screen the dow jones up so far about 48 points. all right. we'll go ahead and smile and say good morning to you. thank you for joining us here on the ktvu morning news. middle of the week. it's wednesday january 12th. i'm dave clark. good morning. i'm pam cook. time now is 6:30. we begin this half hour with developing news. the investigation is underway into an early morning fire in san jose. one witness says he already knows how that fire started. ktvu's kraig debro joins us now with the update. good morning, kraig. >> reporter: good morning, pam. and i also talked to another business owner around here. he tells me it's not the first time they've had problems with that wire. more on that in a second. first the house behind me which is actually a marijuana dispensary business here on drake near downtown san jose what they've just done you can see on the ground there's a lot of foam there. what they're doing now is they're spraying water and foam on that house. the foam sits on top of the water so the water can really seep into the wood here.

this is an old victorian. firefighter told me it's more difficult to make sure this house is out than the newer houses. newer houses have sheet rock. sheet rock gets wet and crumbles. they have actual redwood here and the ambers can get into the redwood. that's why all the attention. apparently this all started over here according to a witness with this line right here. this is 120 to 240-volt power line. the guy next door says h weapon up around 3:00 this morning and heard the sounds of hissing and a lot of electricity. 3:04 this morning is when they got the call. firefighters arrived around 3:09. second alarm and knocked down around 3:25. fire investigator already left crews came from station 30. but it was a truck company. it wasn't an engine. budget cuts have reduced the engines at different stations. when i talked to the pio she said that made very little difference. does that make any difference

in the fire? >> tonight it didn't. the engine got here about a minute after the truck. >> reporter: let you hear that because i talked to a firefighter on scene one of the crew members here he told me that his station is three or four minutes away. he says it took an extra three or four minutes. firefighters are down here still a little bitter about some of the stations being closed down and some engines being moved around. he said some time soon it's only gambling now somebody's going to lose their life because of that extra time. back to this wire here i want to show you real quick. a business owner here told me that trucks that come in to his paint business hit these wires. in fact, one truck hit it before and knocked it loose. the city came out and fixed it. but he believes it's because trucks are hitting those lines and that's why this line came down this morning. live in san jose, kraig debro, ktvu channel 2 news. a man who oakland police say led them on a chase in a stolen car is in custody this morning. the chase ended on east 24th street last night about 10:30 after police say the suspect crashed into a parked rv.

officers on routine patrol apparently discovered the car was stolen after running the license plate. they say the suspect fled when they try today pull him over and they found suspected narcotics inside that stolen car. time now 6:33. well, there's an optimistic prognosis this morning for wounded arizona congresswoman gabrielle giffords as president obama prepares to make remarks to mourners tonight in tucson. there are new photos showing congresswoman giffords' husband holding her hand right there. the congresswoman is breathing on her own now but remains on a ventilator just as a precaution. meantime investigators are searching for a black bag that the accused gunman, jared loughner, was seen taking into the desert the very day of that shooting rampage. authorities say that bag may contain clues about his motives. a candle light vigil in downtown oakland tonight will honor the mass shooting victims and condemn acts of political violence. the vigil is scheduled for 5:00

to 6:30 p.m. right outside of oakland city hall on 14th street and broadway. the club says the vigil is a nonpartson event. everyone is invited to attend. sarah palin is finally speaking about the shootings in arizona. this morning she issued this eight minute video you're seeing there. this is on her facebook page. she's accusing journalists and pun dents of inciting violence in the wake of the tragedy. sarah palin's been under attack about a map that she published on her website last spring. that map showed cross hairs targeting the districts of health care reform supporters including congresswoman gabrielle giffords. now ktvu's paul chambers will have reaction to this video you're looking at right now. that's coming up today on mornings on 2. it was one year ago today that a magnitude 7 earthquake hit haiti. and more than 230,000 people were killed devastating the

country. today more than a million people remain homeless living in tent cities. 90% of the debris from the earthquake is still in the same place. former president bill clinton who is the u.n.'s special envoy to haiti says progress is being made even though it was slow to get going. haiti continues to battle an outbreak of cholera that has killed more than 3600 people. time now 6:35. we're following overnight news coming from fairfield. a grim discovery on a freeway onramp is now led to a homicide arrest. two homeless people found the body of a 44-year-old man yesterday afternoon near interstate 80. police say they now believe he died as a result of injuries suffered in a fierce fistfight that happened sunday night. now early today the announce the arrest of the other man believed to have been involved in that fight. he's identified at 37-year-old bryan peck. two teenagers and one adult are now facing murder charges in the killing of a 16-year-old

boy in richmond. investigators say gene was shot and killed monday afternoon. grieving family members say he had just left his grandmother's home. police say they tracked down the three suspects in a get away car a few hours later but they still don't know what's behind the attack. time now 6:36. the battle over pg&e's smart meters really heating up now with the arrest of two protesters. >> i have four grandchildren. they are getting killed with this radiation. >> that was 61-year-old debra being handcuffed right there. she was arrested along with a 59-year-old woman yesterday after blocking a truck that was delivering smart meters. those meters are part of a statewide conversion use radio frequencies to measure electric power. however, critics including debra say they are not safe and they want the option to opt out. >> i believe folks should have a choice here. they have a right to make a choice. they have a right to decide.

>> now, pg&e claims the smart meters are safe and they're more efficient. pg&e says it will address customer concerns as it continues to roll out the new smart meters. the mayor of hercules who was recently the subject of a recall effort now says he will step down. at last night city council meeting the mayor announced he plans to retire to spend more time with his family. the recall petition against him along with two other city officials accuse them of financial misdeeds that could "jeopardize the city's ability to pay for basic municipal services." all right. your time is now 6:38. let's see what's happening on the roads right now hawaii do you see, sal? right now, dave and pam, traffic is beginning to wake up so to speak. we're going to look at some of these live pictures. the highway 4 traffic has been busy in the typical spot throughout most of antioch in that two lane section of the freeway. and it evens out. when you get to bay point it is crowded here. it is crowded on the way to concord and willow ss grade.

this morning's commute looks slow at the bay bridge toll plaza. we're thinking it's about a five to eight minute delay here and once you get on to the bridge another five to eight minutes on the span into san francisco. this is a look at the freeway system. you can see that traffic is going to be relatively light northbound 880 looks like we might have a problem there. northbound 880 right near tenson there's a new collision there. there off to the right hand side. across the bay traffic looks good on the peninsula. and if you're driving into the south bay so far so good on that freeway -- on those freeways i should say. 6:39. let's go to steve. thank you, sal. good morning. here we are at the mother ship it is very mild compared to where we were just two days ago. a lot of 20s and 30s and now we're in the mid-40s. a couple breaks in the clouds towards san jose. instead of 25 at sonoma county airport which you had monday morning for a record low it's now 45. 43 fairfield. almost every location though says cloudy. only san jose doesn't.

although i wouldn't be surprised if around there there are more breaks in the clouds. fremont's 47. redwood city 47. a lot of mid-40s to even upper 40s. san francisco which was in the icebox there for a couple days currently 47 degrees. the coolest reading twin peaks, cole valley about three or four readings 35 degrees. the warmest, mission bay, already 50 degrees. you couldn't buy a 50-degree temperature between january 5th and january 10th. now temperatures are very close to that. a cloudy morning. sun, clouds, mild. yes, sun for some. if you can get through the cloud cover, temperature wills go up to near 60 degrees. mostly cloudy tomorrow. rain to the north. that may be it for a while. five to ten day outlook very quiet for the west coast. valley fog is likely but maybe upper 60s to near 70 on the coast as we head towards next week. very cold, unbelievablely cold system diving into the great lakes and northeast next week while the west coast, us, stays very mild and dry.

45 santa rosa our target forecast. 50 at noon. go 53 at 4:00 today. not much in the way of any rain yesterday. but it did make it. so that counts as a rain day. that system right there where my shoulder will be in here tomorrow with the cloud bank and that's about it. 40 redding, 37 tahoe. 43 sacramento. 50s now up and down the coast or 40s. temperatures have come up a good 15 to to degrees. not much left of the system to the left but it will drag across us tomorrow and high pressure says i'm building in for the west coast for the weekend. 42 to 50 on the lows. cloudy skies. then some breaks in the clouds by noon. sun and clouds, 46 to 56 through the clouds in the mid- 50s and if you can get enough sun for the day near 60 degrees. 54 napa, 57 oakland, 55 san francisco. brentwood 53. 60 for san jose, mountain view and close for others including redwood city and morgan hill at 59. no change through thursday. then either fog or sun. you have the fog cooler, sun

warmer as we go into the weekend. thank you, steve. the northeast storm has canceled hundreds of flights this morning. up next we're going to have a live report from new york to find out how the city's responding to this emergency.

good morning to you.

welcome back. here's a quick look at some of the stories we're following right now. investigations happening now into an early morning fire. it happened at this san jose pot club. one witness says a downed power line started the fire on drake street. luckily no one was hurt. a magnitude 4.5 earthquake really shook monterey county a couple hours ago. it was then followed by several aftershocks. the u.s. geological survey says they received hundreds of phone calls throughout the bay area. people said they felt that shaking shortly before 1:00 a.m. no one was hurt. in sunny vale the chp's in the vinyl stages now of clearing up an overnight crash where one person was killed. this happened eastbound highway 237 just east of lawrence expressway. we're going to bring you a live report from that scene in just about 15 minutes. well, the winter storm that has slammed the south has now reached the east coast and it's wreaking havoc on the roads and at the airports. we're live in new york's la guardia airport this morning with the latest.

how does it look, patricia? >> reporter: well, good morning there, pam and dave. hundreds of flights have been canceled at all three new york major area airports but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. i spoke with the general manager at la guardia airport a little while ago. he says the airport is ready to go and flight activity should be ramping up by early this afternoon. it's being called a snow bomb. parts of the northeast united states getting packed in snow as a winter storm heads up the eastern seaboard. motorists are being asked to stay off the roads so that snowplows can do their jobs. >> we're asking for cooperation as more people are trying to get on the highways that those highways are now starting to tighten up. so it would be helpful if people would simply stay off the highways, stay home. let the snow pass. give us a little time to get in on top of the clearing of the state highway system. >> reporter: philadelphia declare add snow emergency. a blizzard warning is in effect for boston.

new york is experiencing its third snowstorm in as many weeks. and the mayor says the city can expect a much better response than it's highly criticized christmas weekend storm. >> we do know that we didn't do the job that new yorkers rightly expect of us in the last storm. and we intend to make sure that that does not happen again. >> reporter: new york has prepared for this storm by salting the roads, equipping ambulances with rescue sleds and gps trackers on all of the snowplowing trucks moving them to the area that is need them the most. all this while the storm's impact is still being felt in the south where it caused flights to be canceled and turned streets into ice. now while flights are expected to resume this afternoon at all three major area airports, the best bet is to call your airline to check on the flight -- the status of your flight. live from la guardia airport, now back to you, pam and dave. incredible pictures. time now 6:47. then there's the fierce flooding that is ravaging

australia this morning. look at this. fast moving flood waters sweeping away cars in one city. the streets look -- that's a street. it looks like a river. brisbane is the latest city in australia to really be hit hard. 20,000 homes there are threatened. people are warned to move to higher ground. the flooding blamed for 22 deaths so far. at least 40 people are missing since the rain started pouring in november. 6:48 is the time right now. back over to sal. how's the commute right now, sal? it's busier right now, pam and dave. if you're driving into san francisco there's a big delay at the toll plaza. it's backed up for about -- well, i would say between 10 and 15 minutes. it's not moving along very well. you can see the cars are not getting to the area to the toll plaza that quickly. but so far it's only up to at the most 15 minutes. so let's move along and take a look at the commute in san

francisco along northbound 101 traffic looks okay coming up to the 80 split. if you're driving on the peninsula highway 101 looks good down to the airport and beyond that to burling gap and san mateo heading down to redwood city. south bay commute already getting busy traffic through 280 at 880 but the rest looks okay. 6:48. let's go to steve. sal, thank you, sir. we have a mostly cloudy morning. few breaks in the clouds towards san jose. almost all locations say cloudy. the big difference is instead of 20s and 30s we have a lot of mid-40s. starting off warmer even though it may still feel cold it's not as cold as it has been. 43 livermore. 43 fairfield. 45 napa, santa rosa. even 49 mountain view. 47 san jose. 30s up in the mountains. reno two bits 40s in the valley now all the way down to the desert with 40s and 50s on the coast. eureka at 53. they were 29 monday morning. the system that came by yesterday gave us some ho hum amounts of rain. few one-hundredths but did make it and put a little more moisture at the surface. the next system spinning

heading north will drag across us tomorrow. so some rain is possible to the north but this is another very weak system. then after that high pressure builds in and all signs point towards very quiet pattern for the west coast with cold, cold pattern for the midwest and the great lakes and also into the northeast next week. 42 to 50. cloudy skies. a few breaks in those clouds. clouds and sun, 46 to 56. get the sun you'll be near 60. if not you'll be in the low 50s, clouds, sun and mild. 52 fairfield. 56 richmond. 54 pacifica. hayward, san leandro at 56. 60 mountain view. san mateo 58. redwood city 59 degrees. mostly cloudy thursday and that's the last system. then it's either going to be fog and cool or mostly sunny and warmer as we go into the weekend. all right. thank you, steve. a new report shows home prices across the country fell during november and the trend is likely to continue. the price of a single family home in the report fell 5.1% in

november. that's the fourth consecutive month of price declines after federal tax credits for home buyers ended. some analysts predict home prices will fall as much as 7% more before they rebound later this year. let's check in on the numbers on wall street. banking stocks are rallying a bit today. and also the worries ease over portugal's debt on a bond sale taking place in europe. dow jones right now up about 54 points. starting this month sam's club warehouse stores will offer basic health services. the $99 program called the prevention plan is offered by an outside company. it's not health insurance, but the company founder says it gives buyers access to personal health information the way a financial planner helps people handle their money. also includes 24 hour phone access to an advice nurse as well as to health coaching sessions. all right. time now 6:51. can you imagine hitting a baby jackpot? >> no. >> one bay area couple did. this is a story that has a lot of parents asking what are the

odds? if you're driving to the macarthur maze any time soon so far so good on the way up to the bay bridge. there's a slow down though. wel tell you more about that straight ahead.

time now 6:54. let's go to tori to see what's coming up on mornings on 2. >> good morning. in minutes we are following developing news right now in san jose after an early morning

fire at a pot club. so far there's no official word on the cause but one witness has a theory. memorials for the tucson victims began last night. the president comes in for another this evening. more updates on congresswoman giffords' condition. new details on the suspect. and what sarah palin did this morning in response to calls to cool down the heated rhetoric. also california's not the only state facing dire fiscal problems. we'll tell you which state is now facing a 66% income tax hike to help cut that state's budget deficit. those stories and more coming up on mornings on 2. now back to you on the morning news. thank you, tori. time now 6:55. receive coy ya high school is holding a big ribbon cutting ceremony today for the new environmentally friendly gymnasium. it's an 18,000 square foot gym with a number of green features including lots of windows. look at this. a high efficiency ventilation

system as well. they can seat 1400 people there. it's got three basketball courts, a volleyball court and eight badminton courts. the ribbon cutting ceremony starts at 5:00 p.m. a redwood city couple has hit the baby jackpot giving birth to naturally conceived quadruplets. four baby girls born at san ford's lieu seal pack hard hospital. each girl weighed less than two pounds at birth but now each weighs between 4.5 and 5.5 pounds. the new mother describes when she found out she was going to have four babies. >> i was shocked. just like speechless. >> the first baby goes home to redwood city in a few weeks. two of the girls are identical. now the odds of that happening is one in a million. and there is still a chance that all four are identical. the odds of that happening one in eleven million. genetic testing to determine

that won't be done until much later. >> four beautiful miracle girls. let's get a check on our commute. sal's watching. >> that's right. traffic is getting busier. it's coming to a peak here. this is highway 4 slow traffic here in bay point. but also slow in antioch. it's pretty much slow all the way from antioch to bay point with a couple breaks. not many. 680 is going to be okay. 24 busy now. especially after lafayette right through oaring da going to be slow up through the scald cot tunnel. and this morning's commute backed up for about an eight to ten minute delay. sal, still cool out there. not as cold. 43 corp deal ya. 47 in san jose. instead of these 20s and 30s a lot of 40s mostly cloudy skies. there will be a few breaks. any sunshine you'll be near 60. if you have the cloud cover all day low to mid-50s. back to the desk. thank you.

steve. coming up on 7:00. we're going to continue live coverage of the early morning fire at a bay area pot club. also sarah palin defending herself on facebook this morning. stay where you are. we're going to show you that page.