i'm tara moriarty live in san francisco where police are now searching for this woman. she is a teacher from marin county. we'll tell you why investigators are not in uniform coming up. and we watched golden gate toll takers defend their jobs. this issue is far from over. why it's such an anxious day for a lot of travelers at sfo and other airports ahead on ktvu channel 2 news at noon.

good afternoon. topping our news this noontime the search for a marin county teacher has switched gears now to san francisco. ktvu's tara moriarty joins us live from golden gate park to tell us why police are now talking to homeless people about the case. good afternoon, tara. >> reporter: good afternoon. police from ross arrived here at golden gate park about an hour ago. they will not be dressed in uniform. they say they want to blend in. they will be asking some homeless people if they have seen this woman. she is a missing teacher. now this all stems from one of many leads investigators are pursuing regarding schmitt's mysterious disappearance. the 53-year-old vanished last wednesday and failed to show up for class the next day. she worked at a soup kitchen and police say she mentioned some day she wanted to stay in golden gate park to experience what it would be like to be homeless. helicopter and ground searches have focused mainly around her home in ross and phoenix lake

where she liked to hike but have turned up nothing. two hours before she disappeared her cousin in new jersey says she exchanged e- mails with her. we spoke to the cousin earlier this morning by phone. >> i asked her how are you doing and i said some of your e- mails are vague and short. and she said that things weren't looking good. i think she said divorce was coming. and i will call you. >> reporter: students found a note saying thank you everyone on a dry erase board and a set of her keys in the classroom. her car id and credit cards were left at her home. so police believe she may have walked away. they do not suspect foul play. and investigators do know that she had been dealing with some personal issues. her husband had recently filed for divorce and three of her close family members have died. she has a son in the eighth grade. we will of course keep you posted on any new developments in this case. we're live in golden gate park. i'm tara moriarty, ktvu channel 2 news. all right. thank you, tara.

oakland police this morning released the identity of a man officers shot and killed following a drive-by shooting and a high speed chase yesterday afternoon. the chase ended with a violent crash at 85th avenue and san leandro street just before 4:00 p.m. officers say that the driver, 24-year-old jeremy brown, took off running but he was soon captured. while the passenger, 19-year- old martin refused to surrender. >> he was armed with two guns. the officer engaged the suspect. he did not follow the officers commands at which time the officers did fire. >> oakland police say they did have some problems talking to the dispatch center by radio during the initial call. and that delayed both the police and medical response. once again, golden gate bridge is considering going all electronic at its toll plaza. ktvu's jade hernandez joins us now to explain what's happening today that could bring that one step closer to reality. good afternoon, jade. >> reporter: good afternoon.

we watched golden gate bridge toll takers defend their jobs. and this issue is not over because the committee meeting is still going on in that building you see behind me which also means the committee members have not decided to endorse a plan which would get rid of golden gate bridge toll takers all together. to delay and influence the decision ten golden gate toll takers spoke with committee members before deciding on moving forward with an all electronic tolling or aet system. getting rid of toll takers would save $19.2 million over 20 years. retire, or be laid off. >> i'm the friendly face that greets each driver as they enter my lane after they've crossed the bridge and before they enter san francisco. >> out of ten years for having fast track, ten years of having fast track, people still come over the bridge and say what's fast track?

>> i feel sorry for those people. they're out of state. they're tourists. they continue know what's going on about fast track and probably come in with cash and there's not going to be no human being in the lane. >> as a driver, i really don't want to be taken off of my course to go to a 7 eleven or another location to prepay something. i would like to just go give my money and keep going on my way. >> reporter: job status may have been on the mind of toll takers but seemed the biggest concern for committee members seemed to how to get to 33% of drivers who don't use fast track to use a pay as you go system that requires a sign up much like fast track. for now drivers would be fined and then a hold would be placed on the driver's license. the san francisco chronicle held a field poll of 1700 people. 55% of those polled said they'd favored the aet system. a final vote by golden gate district board members is expected tomorrow. reporting live in san francisco, back to you in the

studio. thank you, jade. the first to offer services to san francisco international airport on the giant air bus 380 jet. german airline will start daily flights between frankfurt and san francisco the second week of may. tickets are now on sale with round trip fares starting at $1100. the a380 jet has more than 520 seats. so will be able to bring 30% more passengers into sfo than it does now. bay area travelers can expect to run into more delays or cancellations because of the latest snowstorm back east. this morning flight arrival boards at sfo showed several delays and cancellations mostly from the new york area. we gist spoke to someone at sfo who told us a weather problems back east are getting better today compared to yesterday, but the delays can run up to three hours for east coast flights. overnight new york got slammed with 19 inches of snow and this morning the kennedy and newark

airports were closed r several hours while plows cleared runways and crews de- iced planes. that caused hundreds of flight cancellations. >> another issue is just on the east coast alone is getting people who operate the plane who maintain the plane to the airport because the roads or power outages could be an issue as well to try to get out to that. >> because of scheduled changes there could be more cancellations tomorrow morning. so as always you should check ahead if you are traveling. the velocity of a winter storm hit the nation's capital with a wallop. crews have been working on restoring service. washington d.c. received up to seven inches you have snow and that caused havoc on roads. the federal government's operating status told employees to show up for work but they had two extra hours to get there. the notice also suggested that employees work from home if possible. homeland security secretary this morning made official what

had been widely reported from anonymous sources yesterday. the color code terrorist threat system is ending. she made that announcement in a speech within the past hour at george washington university. the color coded system was implemented after the september 11 attack with levels going from green to red. the new system will be based on a simple premise. >> when a threat develops that could impact you, the public, we will tell you. we will provide whatever information we can so you know how to protect yourselves, your family and your communities. >> the new terror alert system is scheduled to go into effect by the end of april. investigators are deciding whether to search -- where to search next for kidnapping victim juliani cardenas.

last night stanislaus sheriffs announced divers will not go back into the murky chilly waters of the delta canal. they've already pulled eleven cars out of the water in the last six days, but not the silver toyota corolla believed to be in the canal that belongs to kidnapping suspect jose rodriguez. one of the cars that was recovered from the canal has been returned to its owners. but they don't want it back. the car was stolen in november. since police don't know who stole the car, state law says the couple has to pay the bill. they now owe the towing company more than $3,000 which is more than they say the car is worth. >> end up with nothing and losing more money. >> that truck that we were using is a half million dollar tow truck. it takes a lot to do it. >> the couple who owned the car did not have full insurance coverage. so that's why they will have to pay the bill out of their own pocket. some bay area students have their eyes on the skies today.

we'll explain why. and change the public reception that men cry. meteorologist mark just updated his latest forecast models also. i think the economy looks great right now. we're excited. business is up a great deal for us. and we're always looking for new agents. some really smart people are together in the south bay right now talking about silicon valley and the economic recovery.

as more bay area counties begin counting their homeless, one san francisco group is criticizing the methods used in the census. volunteers are not supposed to approach or speak to people while conducting their count. but homeless advocates say this could lead to people being included in the census who are not homeless. the city's defending the process saying it is accurate. san francisco census count begins at 7:00 tonight and goes until midnight. the u.s. muslim population is expected to double over the next 20 years according to a new study. immigration patterns and birthrates show the muslim population will grow from 2.6 million right now to more than 6 million in 2030. that's a jump from about 1% of

the population to almost 2%. muslims will make up more than a quarter of the global population by the same date. this morning the labor department reported worse than expected news about the unemployed. initial claims for jobless benefits jumped to 454,000 last week. that's up 54,000 which is ten times what analysts expected. they blame bad weather and forced southern states in early december kept unemployment offices closed. the number of peopling to collect unemployment insurance was also up just shy of 4 million people filed for benefits. a new survey of leading economists predicts a brighter outlook this year. the group says the economy will grow by 3.2% this year. and the economists believe a major reason for that will be an increase in the size of the working population. they say employers will create a net total of 2.2 million jobs, that's twice as many as were created last year. and this year is also looking

like a come back year for silicon valley which is an essential part of bay area business. ktvu's pam cook tells us what local business leaders are saying about a high-tech recovery. >> reporter: for silicon valley san jose business journal and city national bank presenting their yearly regional economic forecast in san jose today. many of the business leaders attending the conference today are optimistic and say they already see signs of life especially in the local economy. >> they were starting to see that the u.s. economy and even more so the economy here in silicon valley is starting to expand and grow at a much faster pace than we've seen in the past few years. >> reporter: he says businesses are expanding particularly those in technology and clean energy and consumers are starting to spend again. this morning the real estate sector delivered some optimistic news. pending home sales rose faster than expected in december for an increase in five of the last six months. however, the numbers are still lower than those of a year ago and locals who have been in the business for years tell us it's

not exactly a turn around yet. >> it's a trugling. we are finding work. we're staying busy. but it's definitely a challenge out there. it's probably the toughest market i've ever seen in my entire career. >> reporter: a big factor in an economic turn around is still jobs. earlier this morning the labor department announced new unemployment numbers that are worse than analysts expected. the current unemployment rate here in the bay area is still about 9%. and economists don't predict that will drop significantly for another two years. pam cook, ktvu channel 2 news. some high school students in the south bay have a special package on its way to the international space station. valley christian high school sent a botany experiment on the japanese rocket that launched last friday. the students and their advisors say the experiment will determine if plants grow differently in low gravity environments like the space station. they say they are the first high school group to send a science project to the space

station. >> it's really inspiring to be able to see how much we've been able to do and to realize high schoolers are putting something on the international space station. that's not something you hear about every day. >> the package is expected to arrive at the space station tomorrow. a group of men in marin county want to change the way people perceive men who cry in public. the group called men of tears encourages men to cry saying it's a therapeutic way to release stress and reduce anger and violence. the therapist leads the group and gives them a safe place to get in touch with their feelings. >> well, i think everybody's tears are personal. and i think that why people cry really doesn't deserve any kind of judgment. >> the men say they hope to expand the group and be a resource for other men who are looking for a safe place to cry.. we've posted more information at our channel was at ktvu.com. just look for the web links section. today cal trans crews are

removing trees along highway 101 to make room for a new hov lane. the trees are growing in between highway 37 and atherton avenue in novato. a total of 105 trees will be removed. the left shoulder of the onramp, the southbound highway 101 will be closed during the removal. this is the first step in the highway widening project to ease bumper to bumper traffic. the construction is expected to last two years. another warm day across most of the bay area. there is one exception though. some dense lingering fog still a part of our forecast into the afternoon hours especially out toward the delta. but right now we have some lingering haze out there. but for the most part still more sunshine and temperatures warming back up into the 60s to right around 70 degrees. the one exception i'll show you right now on live storm tracker 2 you can pick out the latest on the satellite pretty much a current satellite image and we

still have some dense fog from benicia, martinez, antioch and fairfield. we have a dense fog advisory in fact just extended by the national weather service until 2:00 this afternoon. still some lingering fog into the early portion of the afternoon. but away from that especially near the immediate shoreline plenty of sunshine and temperatures beginning to recover. current numbers san francisco right now checking in at 60 degrees. mountain view 63. the fog doing a number on the temperatures here in fairfield and concord mainly in the 40s from around 43 to 46 degrees. weather story for today is this, for this afternoon clearing skies. some mild temperatures around the bay near the coast. for tonight patchy dense fog reforms. that will develop into the evening hours and the weekend we will cool things off and also bring in the possibility of a few rain showers. for tomorrow though and pretty much for today we're going to recue the fog first thing tomorrow morning. cooling trend will begin for your friday that will take us into the weekend. that's the first in a series of changes as we do head into a saturday and sunday. here's our next cold front.

this will increase our cloud cover especially by late saturday and by sunday we are talking about some shower chances across the bay area. the latest forecast models still holding onto that possibility. we'll have to see what happens over the next 24 hours. but at least for right now we are bringing in that chance. here's our forecast model showing some of the dense fog towards the delta. the fog advisory in place until 2:00 this afternoon. and we could still have a few lingering patches in that area as well. but not a lot to show you at 5:00. then we'll take this into the evening hours and into early tomorrow morning this cloud bank approaching our coast coastline will be a factor not only on the coast but the interior. 3:00 mid-50s to mid-60s. hazy sunshine. partly cloudy skies 52 to 57. patchy fog developing into the evening hours 45 to right around 50. here we go with the numbers. you can see some neighborhoods out toward that fog bank in the 50s. but away from that san francisco right around 64. san jose 68 and morgan hill 69. here's a look ahead. your five-day forecast watch out for some patchy dense fog

first thing friday morning possibly another advisory kicking in for parts of the region. as you can see, tori, temperatures cooling off and we will have to bring in a chance for a few showers sunday and clearing skies into monday. but this warm weather pattern it looks like it could be coming to an end especially by the weekend. >> yeah. we've certainly been enjoying it. where do you think the best chance for rain is on sunday. >> right now in the north bay towards sonoma county. the typical hot spots. >> thank you, mark. comedian john stewart expected to be named to the board of the foundations building in new york city. that should happen at a meeting this afternoon. stewart has used his show on comedy central to lobby for passage of a federal bill to provide billions of dollars for ground zero workers who became ill. called stewart a regular new yorker. the memorial is scheduled to open before september 11 this year which would be the tenth anniversary of the attack. the san francisco general hospital foundation this morning announced that four people who will receive this

year's heros and hearts awards. they are superior court judge mary morgan, parents education network founder, children's health center director dr. shannon, and san francisco education fund volunteer john whitennier. they will be honored for inspiring others through exceptional community service. the award also highlights the work of the foundation itself. >> it funds so many programs. and as a community we need to support it whether we need it or not. >> the awards will be presented at a fund raising luncheon on february 10. just ahead where you can go to see the giants world series trophy today. also, the reason for this track mat dramatic scene in san francisco.

, sea ro f t t.. ro fn-opooal..ko gr. i'a n ! ro fe ysexdo..ko gr. llev wt emo? taking a live look at the big board on wall street stock. kind of lukewarm in trading as the trading day comes to a close after a surprise jump in applications for unemployment benefits we mentioned earlier and mixed earning reports coming in from large u.s. companies. the dow is currently up 5. nasdaq is up 15. s&p 500 is up 2. san jose firefighters are investigating the cause of a house fire this morning. it started shortly after 6:00 a.m. on 13th street between jackson and taylor. and what really made the scene

pretty dangerous is the fire brought down power lines. and that forced the evacuation of several homes. at this point there's no word of any injuries and crews had the fire under control after a short amount of time. no word on how the fire started. earlier this morning a car hit a fire hydrant in san francisco causing a big mess. it happened at 23rd and mission streets about 4:00 a.m. crews with the san francisco water department were able to cap the fire hydrant and mop up all the water. police say the driver who hit the hydrant took off. the san francisco giant's 2010 world series trophy will be on display on the beach boardwalk in san francisco from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. fans will be admitted for free on a first come first serve basis. what's more the boardwalk's famous giant dipper will be temporarily renamed in honor of the champions, it will be called the giants dipper. coming up questions over

the san bruno pipeline disaster take center stage today as two new members at the california public utilities commission take their seats. a bay area lawmaker also is blasting the commission over an expensive fund raising dinner set for tonight. find out how much the big utility companies are paying to attend. that and more coming up in our next newscast ktvu channel 2 news at 5:00. thanks for watching. have a great day.