the books since 1969. but it isn't until lately that it has gotten a lot of attention. now because of that attention, there's an attempt to repeal that new law. ken wayne has our report. >> reporter: it is rare but you could walk through any shopping center in california and see someone legally carrying a unloaded handgun on their hip. but a proposed law would ban that practice. they've met in pleasanthill, east palo alto, walnut creek and at restaurants and coffee shops all across california, they are members of the open carry movement. a right that is under fire. >> guns in the public arena are a safety issue for us as well as the general public. >> reporter: emeryville police chief ken james is speaking on behalf of the police chief association which supporting legislation introduced in sacramento to ban the open carry of handguns. james says officers must respond to groups or

individuals openly carrying guns, a resource strain. >> we're going to have two or three officers there to ensure the safety of the officers. for that, our contact however long that contact may go, we're not doing what we should be doing. >> reporter: an open carry ban was carried by the legislature last year but it was dropped due to schedules and this new movement comes after the shooting in arizona. >> we believe the timing is coincidental. but we believe it's something that we had anticipated and planned for. >> reporter: chang is with responsible citizens of california an open carry advocacy group. he's confident if the law passes it will be overturned. open carry has been law in california since 1968. chang says lawmakers are legislating a power that does not exist. >> basically in the entire history of california never has an open carrier committed a violent crime. >> reporter: open carry has long been on the books. a little known law, we'll take a look at how renewed attention

to open carry may have led to this attempted ban. ken pritchett, ktvu channel 2 news. senator lelang yee wants to know if there's any connection between threats he received last year and the shooting against congresswoman gifford. >> i heard that senator lee wants to mix sarah palin -- taking away our constitutional rights of freedom of speech. >> so far authorities haven't yet told lee if they found any connection. but the senator says arizona detectives are checking threats he received after criticizing former alaska governor sarah palin. yee's office says he received numerous racist and threatening messages after he pushed an investigation after he asked for an investigation of fees paid to palin.

thousands attended the funeral today for federal judge john roe who was killed in a tucson mass shooting. congresswoman giffords continues to make remarkable progress. reporter craig bosrow joins us. >> reporter: doctors are calling giffords developments. meanwhile the memorial outside the medical center continues to grow. people are visiting this site around the clock. they're dropping off more stuffed animals, more flowers, more cards, and they were singing just a moment ago. three more people were released today. all this progress coming on the same day tucson remembers and

honors judge john rowe. >> reporter: tucson remembers judge john rowe. meanwhile congresswoman giffords is fighting for her life, a fight that is going well say doctors. ron barber was sent home just in time to attend the funeral for judge rowe. his daughters read a statement where they thanked the community and hospital personnel. >> he insisted that we take him out there, he wanted to see the entire thing. we walked the entire memorial. >> reporter: pam simon who works for congresswoman giffords and was also a victim, received a warm welcome and saw the memorial outside. >> she squeezed my hand and marked yelled pam is here. it might have been reflex but

i'll take it. it was a good squeeze and a little tight hug. >> craig bosrow live. the pema county sheriff's office says loughner bought the gun and ammunition. on the day of the shooting, loughner checked into a motel and bought more ammunition at a wal-mart store. about six hours before the shooting, they say loughner posted a message titled goodbye friends on his my space page. less than three hours before the shooting, loughner was stopped for running a red light. he was let go with just a

warning. and a mother and daughter were found dead inside their home. both had gunshot wounds to the head. police are calling the deaths suspicious deaths. it could be a murder suicide. >> they say they walked inside, coffee pot was on. everything was ready for them to like come over and have coffee. and they just found them like grizzly murdered. >> neighbors say the woman had different grandsons living with her at different times. the grandson found dead had moved to the house from las vegas just before christmas. we have developing news where gunfire broke out this afternoon. the shooting happened just after 3:30 this afternoon in the 3600 block of oakland boulevard near the all star auto shop. the shooter reportedly took off in a white pickup truck no word at this point on any arrest.

if we have more information we will bring it to you during the course of this newscast. the federal government released a report that shows that a natural disaster could cause a trillion dollars in damage, i said a trillion. >> reporter: bethel island is protected by a very tall levee. it's possible that the flood could cover the top of my head, that would cover thousands of miles of the valley. >> traveling toward the west coast, atmospheric rivers of moisture form. >> reporter: imagine an unending series of powerful pacific storms pounding into calirnia for 45 days. though fair rarer than great earthquakes, arch barriers have

hit california before wiping out many towns and farms and much of the state's early economy. dispolite flood control much of the state's vast central valley would become an inland see of run off wiping out the agriculture industry. if too many levies fail, our fragile fresh water system serving thousands of californians would be destroyed. the south bay would be inundated along with silican valley. landslides and debris flows would wipe out roads and destroy untold numbers of property. the coast would be pounded mercifully. making pacific's emotion a minor event. >> even byron discovery bay, tracy, there's not much you could do about it. >> it scares me really bad.

it's nothing i've thought about until you brought it up and i thought, wow what would we do. >> reporter: you will find a lot more detail about this ugs study and some of the places that will be seriously effected right on the bay area on our website ktvu.com. tom vacar, ktvu channel 2 news. massive flooding in brazil has now killed an estimated 500 people. witnesses say it was like a tsunami in the sky. rescuers have not been able to reach the hardest hit areas yet. rain is expected to continue in that region for several more days. the federal bankruptcy court in san jose is reporting a record number of bankruptcy filings last year. that covers both business and individuals. the court in san jose covers santa clara, santa cruz, monterey and san benito county. that is a jump of 16% compared

to 2009. some south bay bankruptcy attorneys say they expect this year to be just as bad. the congress department reported strong numbers for retail sales in december, they came in at $381 billion. that is up .6 of a per percent from a month ago. sales for all of 2010 were 6.7% higher than a year ago. wall street ended the week on a positive note. both the dow and the nasdaq made moderate gains today. the dow was up more than 65, the nasdaq gained about 20. california's new attorney general camela harris says the state should focus on education rather than incarceration.

harris said california needs to push for more crime prevention. >> we need to take resources outs of our criminal justice system and prisons and into our schools and the best way to do that is to realize that we've got to get smart in this state and -- >> reporter: today's event honored who retired sanitation workers who took part of a strike where martin luther court luther king was assassinated. prosecutors say results from blood tests taken later may be difficult to prove that his blood alcohol level was above the legal limit when he was driving.

i'm paul chambers live in san francisco where thousands of teachers will have to find new classrooms, the reason they want to get district money. it's going to be dry but that fog is going to play havoc with your travel plans. i'll tell you which days will be the worse. shift your weight forward onto the left foot.

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big changes lie ahead for some san francisco students. many of whom will have new teachers. the classroom shake up comes as they look to obey on their part of the deal. >> reporter: ten schools here in san francisco are on a list of low scoring schools. including this one right here that is willie brown elementary. the district will receive millions of the dollars to make improvements to your child's edge. but before they can get the funding, hundreds of teachers will have to be removed from

those schools. >> this is devicive, it's demoralizing, and will hurt the people who plan these things. >> reporter: hundreds of teachers will have to find a new classroom next year. any school that gets funding will have to use one of four reform options including replaces teachers. >> there's no quote unquote way to know the bad teachers are leaving. >> they are very experienced teachers but it's a fit. >> reporter: the district says it's not looking to fire those teachers, just move them to different schools. that's why the district is allowing teachers to voluntarily leave their current positions in exchange for a job at another school. >> for each one of those schools over the next three years to have 1.4 to $1.5 million to really fund their reform process is hugely significant for those communities. >> given the resources, given

the professional development, don't punish the teachers that are reaching the goal. >> i want to stay here. >> reporter: you will hear more coming up at 6:00. at 6:00 we'll tell you what will happen at willie brown elementary school. there's a lot of changes coming to that school also, i'll have that and more coming at 6:00. paul chamber, ktvu channel 2 news. uc berkeley is issuing pink slips to more than 150 people employees this week. there are no faculty positions on the chopping block. but 150 managers and support staff will be out of work by june. the new lay offs will save uc about $20 million. but campus workers are asking at what cost? >> to continue the cuts at the level they are doing while raising the tuition. it's doing a complete disservice to the students. >> reporter: uc berkeley has cut 500 jobs from it's payroll in the past two years.

more belt tightening could be under way. because governor jerry brown has proposed cutting $500 million from the uc system. overnight drivers in the south bay will have to contend with freeway closures this weekend. caltrans says all lanes of highway 101 will be closed at tolley road as crews there demolish an overpass. the closures will take place from 11:30 tonight. from midnight to 7:00 a.m. on sunday and then from 11:00 p.m. sunday evening until 5:00 a.m. monday. southbound freeway traffic will be detoured to tolley road, mcglaffen avenue. northbound traffic will use tolley road. the public is invited to a meeting next week on a new sewage treatment plan in the south bay. residents will be encouraged to give their input on a plan to build a 600-foot acre site on esteros road on the milpedas line. the plan includes a major

renovation of the aging water treatment center estimated to cost more than $2 billion. the community workshop meeting is set for january 19th at george main elementary school. all right, well finally some nice weather for us to talk about and enjoy around here. let's check in with our chief meteorologist bill martin. seems like it was a lot warmer today, bill. >> it was a lot warmer today. temperatures from five to 8 degrees warmer today than they have been in the last couple of days. we had numbers today in the mid- 60s in the warmest spots. the fog will be back. the north bay will be looking at a dense fog advisory tomorrow. let's go to the live storm tracker 2 and i'll show you what we're checking out. this is the dense fog, it will be back tonight. valuely fog is going -- valley fog will end up here. here's something we haven't seen or we don't often seen. valley fog coinsiding with the coastal side which is right

now, in and around the vfw building. the fog moving in around the coast. and fog moving into the valley. the dense fog advisory to your neighborhood, napa, sonoma and it'll be nasty. we had a lot of fog this morning. the difference, the visibility will be a little bit better. tonight it's going to be closer to the ground and that will shoot your visibilities down perhaps less than a quarter of a mile. you lived in the north bay or any where in the bay area. just because this dense fog advisory is in the bay, doesn't mean that's the only place that's going to get fog. you're going to see fog down in the livermore area. you're going to see fog down by morganhill. valley fog down in the forecast. i wouldn't be surprised if we saw one come up for davis, sacramento, and perhaps dense fog advisory for vallejo. i don't issue the advisories but i would say if the conditions are ripe in the north bay, they are certainly going to be ripe in other inland bay valleys as well. overnight low is a little

cooler tomorrow. here's the deal in the weekend, warmer. i'll have the complete forecast back here in just a few minutes. >> we'll see you then, thank you bill. there's word tonight that u.s. officials may be losening restrictions on travel to cuba. bill nelson's office says the state department briefed his staff on the changes today. the new policy would allow students and church groups to visit cuba. and it would allow any american to send up to $2,000 a year to cubans who are not part of the castro government or members of the communist party. the changes would take effect over the next several weeks. well if you're an adventurous person or perhaps you would just like to become one, you might want to head over to santa clara this weekend. at the show you can try zip line, scuba diving or how about rock climbing. >> the purpose why these shows are so successful, when you

have so many options on the internet, you don't know what you're getting on the internet. here you're talkinto the people who offer the product or the local. >> reporter: the show also includes music, and food. along with wine tasting, a fiery challenge, and a story telling time for kids. honoring the tucson shooting victims. we will go live to a vigil on the way at walnut creek. and dangers on the gridiron. and it comes from equipment that's supposed to keep players safe. and a grand opening at a historic building, what's new after 70 years. increased violence, now increased rules. we're learning more about how certain nightclub security will be changing to protect you. tonight on ktvu channel 2 news at 6:00.

in the not too distant future, the military may help women into emergency units. right now female members of the armed forces may serve only in combat support roles such as medics or logistics officers. but the commission says the pentagon should phase out the roles. thousands of anti government protesters have been marching through the capital.

the president says he applauds the courage of tenasians but he urged everyone to stay calm and withdraw from violence. federal officials say they are looking into claims that some football helmets can help reduce concussions. the chairman of the federal trade commission launched the investigation at the request of tom yuda. the new mexico senator questioned what he called deceptive practices in the sale of new helmets and the reconditioning of used helmets. after a seven year restoration project a san francisco landmark is celebrating a grand reopening.

thnewly refurbished pal lance of arts reopened this morning. with major upgrade to the dome, the rotunda, the lagoon as well as updates. the mayback foundation partnered to raise money for the project. it was huggins who raised the most funds. >> this is the biggest moment possibly of my life. in 2003 mayor willie brown asked me to get involved with this project and i said yes. i became the chair and i was the one who went out and asked people for money. >> she says the $19 million raised for the project was the result of donations from 1,200 people. she was inspired to help with the project to preserve the place that her parents fell in love back in 1915 when it was first built. an emotional plea tonight from a family in the south bay. a campbell teenager is now suffering from brain damage

after being struck by a hit and run driver. we were invited into the hospital room to hear the family's plea.

come and look at my daughter and apologize for accidentally hitting her. a parent's desperate plea tonight after a hit and run accident. so far the driver involved in that south bay accident has yet to come forward. and the lack of accountability and answers is only adding to the pain suffered by the family of the victim who tonight is this in critical condition at valley medical center. that's where ktvu's janine de

la vega is now with an update. janine. >> reporter: family and friends of 15-year-old shay shaw has been putting up this flier in campbell and los cados hoping it will get people to come guard who witnessed the accident. as you can see from these pictures, shay is a vibrant teenager which is such a stark change to how grave her condition is here at the hospital. >> reporter: carrie shaw is trying to stay positive, but she says it's hard when she knows her daughter suffered brain damage. shay has not spoken or opened her eyes since last saturday. her and her husband had left a party early that morning. this surveillance video shows them crossing on camden where a grey or silver vehicle struck shay and took off. shay has a torn bladder and a

broken femur. >> she's a very loved girl, has a lot of friends. she's very vivacious. she's a wonderful little girl and we want her back. >> reporter: police say they have been few leads, there were other cars in the area as well as a group of people at a gas station. but police say none of those witnesses has come forward. shaw is trying to focus on her daughter but desperately wants the driver responsible to come forward. >> come and look at my daughter and apologize for accidentally hitting her. >> reporter: shay is a sophomore at los cados high school. carrie says that they've come every day hoping she will pull through. >> we're hoping there's a miracle. doctors are going to y to wean shay off the medication to see how she reacts. at this point she's still in a medically induced coma and doctors don't have a prognosis. reporting live, janine de la vega, ktvu channel 2 news. candlelight vigil in memory

of the tucson shooting victims is just now getting under way in walnut creek. it's been held at a veteran's memorial plaza on the corner of north broadway and civic drive. these are live pictures of the scene there. the mount diablo peace center organized tonight's event. alameda firefighters said goodbye to a good friend. doctors diagnosed his cancer last march and said it was caused by smoke and fumes related to his job. >> we are exposed to toxins just in the course of our job.

there's a higher rate of cancer deaths in firefighters. >> carvala is survivorred by his son and wife. ktvu rob roth joins us now it were >> reporter: the study shows that pregnant women are carrying more than their babies, they are carrying toxic chemicals even before they were born. this sofa has high levels of a chemicals. pregnant women are exposed to chemicals including det a pesticides banned in the 1970s but it's still in our

environment. uc san francisco researcher tracy woodrift is the author of this study found that all preg pregnant women in this study were exposed to chemicals. >> there's a greater risk for their developing fetus. >> reporter: researchers hope the federal government takes action. >> we really need more society wide intervention like from the federal government to make sure that before chemicals go on to the marketplace they are safe before people become exposed or pregnant women become exposed. >> reporter: this oakland woman is expecting a baby in a few months. >> there's nothing that i can do to prevent, i would have to buy new furniture and cooking utensils. all i can do is eat well. >> i need to focus on being positive and being a happy person, those are the things i

can control. >> reporter: researchers say it's almost impossible to avoid harmful chemicals but they recommend expectant mothers wash their hands frequently and vacuum often to get rid of dust. a specially convened 11 judge panel issued the ruling. the court says it got rid of the rule because private parties are allowed to join the government as a plaintiff in every other type of lawsuit. the u.s. chamber of commerce and others opposed the rule. the obama administration has halted that high tech virtual fence along the u.s. border with mexico. homeland security secretary janet napolitano has now cancelled the plan for the fence sighting technical problems, cost overreturns and delays. so far the project has cost payers almost a billion dollars but has covered only 53 miles

in two regions in arizona. napolitano says she wants to implement a new plan that includes tower based remote video surveillance. president obama remembered today holbrook as a remarkable citizen. holbrook who served as the president's envoy died last month after collapsing at the state department. holbrook embraced both realism -- he also helped write the pentagon papers back in the

70s. holbrook was 69 years old. a warning tonight, if you plan to buy the verizon iphone four. and the latest on the law preventing same-sex marriage. why the latest additions to uc schools, what it is and why parents say it's paying off.

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the u.s. justice department today filed it's opening brief to defend the federal defensive marriage act which bans same- sex marriage. in it's appeal, the dop said congress has the right to define marriage differently than separate states. the irs is offering a new way to get tax refunds this year for people who don't have bankaccountsand make less than $35,000 a year. debit cards. consumer groups say the pilot program is a great idea because right now millions of americans without bank accounts have to pay high fees to cash their refund checks. >> we're hoping to see that consumers will be able to get access to their money quicker. because you get your debit card, it'll be safe because the card comes with a lot of protections and then most

importantly, it's low cost. >> porter: the treasury department will send a letter next week to 600,000 americans offering the debit card option. the magazine called the iphone middle-aged and said it would likely be replaced fairly quickly by a newer version. the blog posting also criticized verizon iphone being 3g when other carriers have already launched faster 4g technology. the joint venture between news corp. and apple was scheduled to be unveiled january 14th, with apple ceo steve jobs. now the wall street journal reveals the deal is being pushed back to give apple more time to prepare for the launch. new figures released today show an 11% increase in out of

state applicants for the fall term. uc officials made an orchestrated effort to recruit them in an effort to generate more cash for the financially cash strapped system. over all 142,000 students applied to uc schools this year that is up 6% compared to last year and on average about 70% of them will be accepted. new research show there's more benefits of putting more steps into your day. lower risks for heart disease. the people who logged a higher daily log count had better insulin sensitivity. both associated with lower rates of diabetes. the results were true even when adjusting for smoking and dieting. the latest review is

publicked in today's edition of the american journal of preventative medicine. in a recent study no change was found in the changes made by customers. research say they didn't expect a big adjustment but they were surprised not to find the slightest hint in the change of behavior by consumers. the mavericks surf contest could happen at any time. but organizers hope comfortable viewing venues like the fox theater here in redwood city will keep fans away from the beach and cliffs. that story coming up. looking at the bay area weekend right now. there's some fog back in the forecast, no rain, it's going to be warmer as well. i'll pinpoint the high temperatures saturday and sunday for your neighborhoods. new at 6:00, parking meters sandized and we're -- vandalized and we're not talking a couple here and there. hundreds every day. increased violence now increased rules. we're learning more about how certain nightclub securities will be changing to protect

you. tonight on ktvu channel 2 news at 6:00.

the vallejo city recycling coordinator is pushing for a ban on styrofoam containers. he says that a ban would help protect hinder creek. now that organizers of the maverick surf contest have banned spectators from the beach, they are setting up the áf areas to watch the contest live. robert handa is telling us how this will work and how fans are feeling about this. >> reporter: we're close to a venue that will beshowing the

competition live. but will fans come to theater and stay away from the beach? the view of mavericks shows why surfers are still waiting for the contest. when the waves get big enough. competitors will have hours to arrive. but now at spectators will not be allowed on the beach some fans are upset. >> i don't agree with it. i'm going to show up. i know a lot of people are going to show up no matter what. >> reporter: the city has set up several venues to show the competition live. including the fox theater in redwood city. the fox owners acknowledge the challenge of setting up in a 48 hour notice but says that the theater has an advantage to the beach. >> we have a extra large viewing screen for people, we're going to have coffee, tea and drinks for people. >> a lot warmer here, then. >> definitely a lot warmer. >> reporter: coastal agencies can restrict access because of

possible hazard such as last year's rogue waves. >> we want to protect the spectators. we want to keep the focus on the surfers. >> nothing beats watching it live. if i had a choice of watching a game on tv or going to the stadium, i would rather be at the game. >> reporter: a in frills venue with no special accommodations for fans. robert handa, ktvu channel 2 news. the contra costa water district is warning people to

beware of imposters. fremont city officials say they're trying to set up a meeting with union pacific to talk about how to work together to maximize the potential of that land. julie haener is in the newsroom now with a look at some of the other stories we're working on. >> the bay area city where 300 to 400 parking meters go out of service every day. why so many of them are breaking and why it has nothing to do with wear and tear. authorities say they found 1,300-pound of a certain metal in his garage. why the suspect in this case

could now face life in prison. these stories and much more coming up at 6:00, we'll see you then. all right, thanks julie. we mentioned earlier in the newscast, a little bit of a warm up out there. i guess anything is a warm up considering what we had in the last couple of days. let's check in with chief meteorologist bill martin. >> it's been a real wet cold winder around -- winter around here. your bay area weekend is warming up but there will be fog. i want to show you, this is not showing the fog but there was fog right at the beach. just about a half hour ago. it started to pull back offshore. we have coastal fog and we have that inland valley fog that's going to have an impact on your day tomorrow and on your day sunday. here's the deal though. sunday, saturday and sunday we could see temperatures in the upper 60s, maybe down to santa cruz. mid-60s for the rest of us. you know it was warm today, it'll be warm tomorrow and you

will notice it again monday. dense fog advisory will go into effect for the north bay tonight and tomorrow morning. i think we'll see dense fog elsewhere as well as you would expect. fog in the central valley certainly a constant right through the weekend. this system kind of tees up but it doesn't really do much. just sort of sits there and moves north. rain maybe north. we're looking at clearing skies tomorrow, really a nice day after some morning fog but it burns off fast. there'll be more high clouds in reference to this system offshore. it's a good weekend. go do something outside. tomorrow will be a good day to go do point rays. we always say that but it's a national seashore. it's waiting for you. nobody goes up there. this is the kind of weather pattern that you want to go up there. saturday 5:00, we're looking for fog, we're looking for rain. we do have coastal fog. rain stays north. and it kind of lingers north on sundays. there you go. in the mountains perhaps you're

going that bay, increasing clouds on saturday. slight chance on sunday. late tahoe truckee forecast. that's a warm up for them as well. forecast highs for your saturday, 63. those are high number, we haven't seen those in a while. looks like this, dry, dry, dry, maybe a sprinkle on sunday. not enough to change your plans. but the fog is what we'll have to contend with. if you look to your horoscope for a look at your day. how you could be looking at someone elses fate.

the late pope john paul ii is now up for confirmation of pontification. a new report has thrown the signs of zodiac.

>> now it's turning to the polaris. but 3000bc things were oriented differently. >> over the millenia the con stalations have shifted pushing the stars into different alignments. now they're suggesting adding another constalation to the horoscope. so what do bay area stargazers think about a 13th zodiac sign? >> there's only 12 months in the year, where are they going to fill in that 13th sign. >> i think it makes the entire zodiac and astronomy thing -- >> ktvu channel two news at

6:00 is coming up next. we'll tell you why vandals are targeting parking meters in san francisco.

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it's costly and it happens hundreds of types a day and now it could result in new rules to follow for drivers looking to park in san francisco. changes could be on the way for this controversial law. good evening i'm julie haener. >> and i'm frank sollerville. it happens hundreds of times every day. people vandalize san francisco's meters. christien kafton is live in san francisco tonight with more on this. >> reporter: san francisco transportation officials confirmed for me that vandals are targeting parking meters trying to break them so they can park for free. take a look, you can see why this meter