is congested toll pricing actually doing anything about congestion on the bay bridge? new data just released gives us a look at the change in commute. the president is heading to arizona to join the nation in mourning the tucson shooting victims. >> when we take up our arms -- >> sarah palin responds to allegations that her comment

impacted the gunman in arizona. that story and more next -- at noon. good afternoon. we begin this noontime with the look of effectiveness of the congestion pricing. one of the motivations was to help improve heavy commute at the toll plaza. so has it been working cot joins us with -- claudine wong joins us with details. >> reporter: good afternoon, tori. some of this research data that we looked at seems like common sense. researchers talked to a thousand commuters and 93% said they want a fast trip across the bay. that's not surprising. but the question remains, is this commute actually getting

any faster? before the sun came up, we t racked down some of the bay area's earliest commuters to find out if congestion pricing has done anything about congestion. >> no. >> reporter: it's still the s ame? >> still the same. >> reporter: so you think it's working? >> yeah. yeah. it's less congestion. >> reporter: over the last six months, researchers have been talking to commuters. they surveyed 1,000 people and put 85 people in focus groups for a two-hour discussion about how they commute and why. some of what they found. 22% say they could change their destination. 27% could change what time they head out and 40% said they actually don't need their car to get to pork -- to get to work. >> you only have to have a few people change their travel to make a big difference in the amount of delay. >> reporter: and the board got

hard numbers. peak commuters are between 9:00 and 5: 5:00. b.a.r.t. ridership is up about 8% at that time. traffic across the bridge before 5:00 a.m. and after 10:00 is up. researchers say the commute is faster, by about four minutes, or 15%. >> they may not perceive this difference as significant, w hereas, i think just look the at the cold-hard data, it clearly is. >> reporter: one board member said he was unsatisfied by these numbers. he wants more information and uc berkeley researchers say it's coming. they expect to have another u pdate in the spring and a full report out this summer. claudine wong, ktvu channel 2 news. >> thank you, claudine. san francisco parking officers have new marching orders in a crackdown to look

out for parking violators and those who park in tow away zones for more than five minutes. cameras may be attached to street sweepers. two-hour limits may be placed on broken meters. the plan is partly due to p arking ticket revenue that's down $7 million. members of congress are honoring the victims of the arizona shooting today, i ncluding their colleague, gabrielle giffords. >> today we'll say many prayers for this country and for the victims of this horrific event. >> house speaker john boehner introduced a legislation to honor those killed and renewed a commitment to have those in the house fulfill their oaths of office.

michelle and president obama are on their way to tucson right now. they will arrive in arizona shortly. the president will deliver remarks during the event called "together we thrive, tucson and america." that takes place at 5:00 pacific time. they plan to return to washington, d.c. later tonight. we're also learning new details about what the suspect did in the hours before the shooting. investigators say alleged gunman jared loughner went to walmart twice but they won't say why. he was also stopped by a police officer for running a red light. his father says he also saw his son take a black bag out of the trunk of a family car. but when he asked what it was, jared took off running. investigators have yet to find that black bag. today sarah palin is r esponding to a media backlash with an eight-minute video and a transcript on her facebook page. the controversy involves tea party rhetoric and a map palin posted online that places

crosshairs over districts whose members of congress -- c ongresses supports healthcare reform. some blame her for the injure. palin dismisses any connection to violence. >> it's time to restore the american prepresep -- presep. >> she says journalists should not create the type of different viceness that leads to the hatred and violence they are condemning. a man wrongfully convicted for a 1989 double murder in san francisco was supposed to be released from san francisco today. his freedom was just granted by the new district attorney, this on the second day of his job. paul chambers has more. >> reporter: good afternoon, tori. it's a wait game because he

will have to wait a few hours, if not another day before he's r eleased. his a picture of him. he's awaiting release. conley's attorney says his client spent 18 years in jail and is finally being released after wrongful conviction. last month, a judge ruled he was wrongly convicted. he says san francisco police officers allowed a key witness to lie on the stand and give that person thousands of dollars to give his testimony. johnson and charles hughes were killed back in 1989. conley's attorneys say it's possible the after the may be responsible for -- the officers may be responsible for other cases. >> it's likely there are other shen nan gans going on -- shenanigans going going on and there are probably -- going on and there probably are other

wrongful convictions. >> reporter: the department says it would take a few days to do a paper audit to put everything in place. even when they replace -- release conley, they will not give us a time for his own safety. and they will not confirm this only after he's been released. we tried to talk to the fall. but they had no comment. paul chambers, ktvu channel 2 news. former governor schwarzenegger has apologized to the family of a stabbing -- s tabbing victim for not telling them he commuted the sentence for esteban nunez. nunez pleaded guilty in taking part in the stabbing of luis santos in san diego in 2008. santos's father said schwarzenegger sent the family a letter apologizing and j

ustifying his decision. he says he's considering filing a victim's rights lawsuit. we're learning it was a botched kidnapping attempt that t riggered a deadly shootout over the weekend. police say the shooting started after three gunman barged into the mexicali club on saturday night. they were there to kidnap the club owner because of an alleged debt. investigators say two of those gunman and another man were k illed. the owner was wounded but he is expected to survive. police are looking for two suspects. one of them is the alleged getaway driver. the second suspect's name has not been released. still to come -- how a police chase through city streets forced officials to lock down two east bay schools. it's been one year since the devastating earthquake. still ahead -- the problems many people there still face. will it stay dry and how long will the gray skies stick

around? steve paulson is tracking our weather. i think it's helpful to stick around and hold the blood drive in his honor.

two schools were briefly locked down. about 8:00 this morning.

oakland police began chasing a car. after about two minutes, the suspects crashed the car at the intersection of bancroft in san leandro. no one was hurt in the crash and police arrested three people after a brief search in the neighborhood. a match who led oakland police on a chase in a stolen car is in custody. the chase ended on east 4th street around 10:30 after the police crashed into a parked rv. officers on routine patrol discovered the car was stolen after running the license plate. they say the suspect fled when they tried to pull him over and that suspects narcotics were found inside the stolen car. >> in the south bay a fatal overnight crashed closed a busy stretch of highway for several hours. it happened just after 2:00 a.m. on eastbound highway 287, east

of lines expressway. chp officers say at least four cars were involved and a victim who was killed ended up in the westbound lanes. the highway was shut down for almost four hours but it did reopen around 6:00 a.m. >> they were still in the normal parameters for response time. >> san jose police are still investigating whether the club

was operating legally. a fire captain passed away eight days ago with cancer. the blood centers of the p acific, the alameda f irefighters association put on the blood drive. they were there to honor captain scott carnivali who died a week ago yesterday, nearly a year avenue was diagnosed with cancer of the efirefighter guess. >> we saw the difference in scott after the blood transfusion. the energy he had and the courage he showed and i think by everybody here being able to give back and ease that pain of others, i think it made an impact.

it was one year ago today that the earthquake in haiti took place. >> this morning haitians gathered of what remains of n oter game cathedral, c elebrating mass on this somber occasion. one year has now passed since the earth shook port-au-prince. and like millions of others, michelle is still reeling from that terrible day. the earthquake destroyed his home and several months later his wife died of disease in the camp for homeless. michelle still lives in one of these camps. the earthquake killed close to 250,000 people. and then the disaster struck again in the form of a deadly epidemic cholera. foreign governments pledged billions of dollars to help haiti, but survivors, like

michelle say they haven't seen a penny of that help. >> translator: one year, nothing has changed here, he says, many people are suffering and we don't know why. >> reporter: for michelle and so many other haitians, this has been a year of misery. ivan watson, port-au-prince. an earthquake that rattled monterey county overnight was felt by some people here in the bay area. a magnitude 4.5 earthquake struck at 12:51 this morning six miles south of san juan batista. it bass followed by a series of smaller aftershocks. the u.s. geological survey said there were no report of damages. let's check in with our meteorologist, steve paulson, how is the forecast out there? >> tori, we have some

sunshine. finally. people are doing a sundance out there. some of that overcast, though, makes it tough if you are in the overcast. walnut creek still has some clouds but alameda has sunshine. oakland, snipe. you can see one system went through yesterday. we had a lot of low level c loudiness this morning. some of that has burned off. i can show you the next system right there will be in here tonight and tomorrow. that will give us one more hint of light rain and then after that we may not see some rain for a while. so today sun and clouds, a little breezy, east-northeast wind -- it's just too hard to burn off. south bay, peninsula a lot of sun. mostly cloudy tomorrow. light rain in the morning. more rain to the north. but that's a weaker system coming in. after that the high and dry forecast for the next five to ten days, valley fog is likely. but it will be warmer especially for areas lie the -- by the coast. we could be looking at 70s. today we're looking for partly sunny skies, more clouds to the north, more sun to the south.

the system getting closer to the north. i'm showing you the visible satellite. look at the peninsula. sanjose is already 58. santarosa is only 50. concord, 52. 5, it livermore. mountain view is -- 52, livermore. mountain view is 57. sanjose, 58. so therein lies the forecast. sunshine near 60. 40s up in the mountains, 4 0s, 50s in the valley, to 65 palm springs. look at l.a., 70. sandiego, 68. some of that may work its way toward us. one more system and there it is. it's not much but it is starting to enhance a little bit. so we'll have to deal with that tomorrow. today, in the sunshine, enjoy it because temperatures again w arming up a little bit compared to where they were. we had a lot of 40s. this morning we had 40s for lows. this system slides by and then by friday, high pressure builds in and it looks like our fair- weather friend. partly sunny today.

warmer for some, mainly most people, breezy in the hills. forecasted highs anywhere from 50 to 60. low 50s for some. oakland 57, toward san jose and mountain view, we're penciling in 60s. 59 morgue be hill, 59 redwood city. after tomorrow, light rape, we kick it out of here on friday. the weekend will be divided. if you are in the fog it will be cool. if you are in the sun, it will be very warm, 70 on the coast. >> vy to ask you, in the satellite image you had it l ooked like the clouds were -- i have to ask you, in the satellite image you had it -- it looked like you had clouds and this weekend is martin luther king. >> you are good to go. >> oh, good. >> we may not see rain for about ten days. at last night city's

council meeting ed balico announced he will retire to spend more time with his family. he and two other officials were accused of financial schemes that could jeopardize the ability to pay for services. police believe -- police say they believe the man who was found along the highway died in a fierce first fight. they a -- fistfight. they announced the another person arrested, brian peck. two bay area women are facing merchandise after their rest in rohnert park for p rotesting against pg&e's s martmeter. >> i have four grand chirp, they are getting killed with the radiation. that's 61-year-old deborah that

-- tavarez. the meters part of a state-wide conversion used radio frequency to measure power. but critics fear they are unsafe and they want the option to opt out. >> it's danger on a stuck. it's stealth, it's d eseptemberrive and folks d on't -- deseptemberrive and folks don't know. >> pg&e maintain that the meters are safe and more efficient. the company says it will address customer concerns as it c ontinues to roll out the new meters. still ahead -- the harlem globetrotters are in town. this morning one of the cars was visiting some kids who may be future cars.

stocks rising after a successful bond auction in portugal eased worries about europe's debt crisis. financial stocks jumped on hopes the banks would raise dividends. the harlem globetrotters are in the bay area to play in a benefit game in santa rosa. >> you have to be good in basketball, great personality, great character and nice legs. [ laughter ] >> hot shot branch and curly n eal met with kids today and

talked about how they like p laying basketball and going around to areas to see children. >> to teach them responsibility. >> the team will play against long-time generals at santa rosa junior college tonight. a portion of the proceeds will go to the want lettic d epartment. we have new -- will go to the athletic department. we have new information on the dead -- on the dead birds found dead another the highway. they probably -- near the highway. they probably were hit by a truck, investigators say. coming up on the news at 5: 5:00, bay area young democrats will honor gabriel giffords at a -- gabrielle giffords at a

cal candlelight vigil this -- at a candlelight vigil this evening. and feed out what pot clubs op -- operators and -- find out what pot clubs operators are s aying. the next newscast is the ktvu channel 2 news at 5:00. thanks for watching. have a good day.