it captivated everybody. >> oh gosh. look at them. i can't believe it. we are so close. >> tourists were in complete and utter awe as they watched a pod of 14 whales swim alongside their charter boat. >> they are 50 feet away or less. oh my gosh. 30 feet away. >> they are usually found in northern water, such as alaska, british columbia, and washington state. the captain says in his ten year career, he has only seen a large group of killer whales swimming three times. >> i jumped up in the air and screamed. i always do. it's exciting for me and they are just so amazing. >> he cut the engines, the whales passed underneath the boat several times. >> the whales decided we were the most interesting thing around. they changed their course to come and check us out, which is not unusual in killer whales. they are very smart and very

curious animals. >> it was a once in a lifetime experience for many of the passengers to see the creatures up close. the largest were 30 feet long. there were also several calves. >> their eyesight is excellent and once they are up near the surface of the water or at the surface, they can see us well. >> they were looking at you? >> yeah. >> marine biologist says they traveled that long because there isn't enough food in their region and they knew they could find gray whales here. those on board were thankful. >> oh. >> reporter: wood says he's not sure how long the killer whales will hang out in the san francisco area, but he says it's possible for them to stay for the next couple of days. reporting live from pier 39 in san francisco, jeanine, ktvu channel 2 news. big changes are on the way for hundreds of students and

teachers in the east bay. rob roth talked to parents today about the decision to shut down two schools. rob. >> reporter: here at west wood elementary school, parents are fighting to keep this school from closing, but miles away at another concorde elementary school, it's too late and parents there are left scrambling. >> at holbrook elementary school, registration for the next school year, but here there won't be one. >> i have four kids and this is school and now i looking where my kids going for another school. >> the board of education voted to close holbrook and glenn brook middle school to save more than a million dollars. parents say they had a feeling it was coming, but a anxious. students will be assigned to nearby sun terrace or rent elementary schools next year. these parents worry about the effect on their daughter. >> she made friends here and

that will disrupt her learning. she has to go to school. >> these young students became activists, many found out just this morning west wood was being considered for closure along with silver wood elementary. >> we moved to this area so my child could come to westwood. >> the school has become a community resource for parents. >> we do, you know, carnivals. we have a pasta dinner. we do family reading nights where families come and they don't have cars. this is like -- >> this school board is expected to decide the fate of the two schools at its meeting on february 22. reporting live in concorde, ktvu channel 2 news. >> work is underway on the new home of a san francisco mandarin emersion preschool. >> we will move some 40 kids to over 150 children in this new space. >> the school community

celebrated this morning as demolition began at its new site. work will wrap up this spring and the school, which is currently -- will be ready to move into its new 20,000 square foot campus by may 1. the school's founder credits leeland yee for helping to cut through the red tape to get the project moving forward. governor jerry brown is calling off the proposed sale of 11 government buildings calling the initiative by his predecessor short sided. two buildings in san francisco and one in oakland are among those that were going to be sold for $1.2 billion and then rented by the state. instead, the state will shift money to make up for the lost revenue. the alternative i'm proposing this morning will save $6 billion. >> in a closed door moting this afternoon, the governor urged republican lawmakers again to put tax extensions before voters in a proposed june special election. something they now seem open

to. city leaders from across the east bay spoke out against jerry brown's proposal to eliminate redevelopment funding. gene and other leaders joined forces with local businesses and labor leaders. the group says redevelopment projects have provided thousands of jobs and economic growth. >> it's an investment in the future. so that's why i said, penny wise -- we haven't done that, you wouldn't have the striving downtown today. >> city leaders say redevelopment projects generate $2 billion in state and local taxes each year. oakland mayor is voluntarily giving back 25% of her salary. that will put her pay at $137,000 a year, which is about $46,000 less than previous mayor, ron dellum. with oakland facing a deficit, that could lead to cuts and services, she says she doesn't want to ask other people to do what she isn't willing to do. vallejo city leaders are

considering asking the city to vote on a sales tax. vallejo mayor says he supports the measure. it's meant to help the financially troubled city, which is still trying to get out of bankruptcy. details won't be discussed in depth until next month. at this hour, an employee from a store in san francisco is in police custody accused of shooting a neighborhood regular in the back. ktvu's david stevenson is live in san francisco where he arrived shortly after shots were fired this afternoon. david. >> take a look right now. i want to show you a crack in a window where a bullet ricocheted and shattered part of this convenience store window. one of the two shots that were fired this afternoon. about a half hour, we expect the police to release the name of the shooting suspect and the charges he faces. we do know he's an employee of this convenience store, accused of shooting someone right inside the store. >> broad daylight, pretty scary stuff. >> the shots rang out on a

sunny afternoon. sending pedestrians running and prompting a huge police response. >> i looked over there. i saw a man laying down on his back screaming he's been shot. >> san francisco police say an employee of this convenience store fired at least two shots at a man who entered the store at 1:15 this afternoon. >> two officers on foot patrol were in the neighborhood. they responded on foot and found a man down with a gun shot wound to his back. >> police say both the employee and the shooting victim identified by his friends as michael stafford knew each other. the robbery does not appear to be a factor. investigators say the confrontation appears to have the gun after stafford brought the gun into the store. >> he said he couldn't feel his legs and he was asking about his dog. >> the store's owner declined to speak on camera, but his employee is a hard worker. regulars say both men are well known and well liked in the neighborhood.

>> the guy was shot, actually a poetry guy. you pay him a dollar or two and he is a poet. >> we received an update from general hospital, michael remains in critical condition. the shooter is in san francisco county jail. reporting live, david stevenson, ktvu channel 2 news. the alameda county district attorney decided not to file charges against two oakland police officers who killed an unarmed man. that according to unnamed sources who spoke to the oakland tribune. neither the da's office nor the police department could confirm this with ktvu. the two officers shot 37-year- old derek jones last november during a chase following reports of a domestic dispute. the officers said jones kept reaching for a shiny object in his waistband, which turned out to be a scale. a sad fare well today for some bay area military

families. a deployment ceremony was held at the san mateo county fair grounds today for the national guard 297th area support medical company. more than 60 soldiers leave this week for washington before heading off to iraq for a year on their first deployment. one of the soldiers being deployed narrowly escaped last september's deadly pipeline explosion in san bruno. now to the crisis in egypt. google executive sat down today with cnn and had a message for his countrymen. quote, it's no longer time to negotiate with the current regime. >> they decided to negotiate with us at night with rubber bullets, with police sticks, with, you know, water hoses. with tear gas tanks. >> he was detained by the egyptian government for more than a week before he was released on monday. so far, some estimates are that

300 people have been killed in those protests in egypt. in northern egypt, protests erupted in alexandria as leaders of the uprising in cairo called for a nationwide demonstration. egyptian leaders also have joined the fight -- laborers also have joined the fight. workers at companies in textiles, cement, and tourism sectors joined in strikes in cairo and smaller cities. this uprising is in its 16th day. a decision made in the last half hour about the trial of a man accused of attacking a priest. in the past hour, new developments in the case of a bay area man accused of beating up a priest who he says molested him as a child. the decision on what happens next coming up. it is a building that houses hope. the research center opening today that could potentially find the next cure for diseases like diabetes, even cancer. and it's going to be cold

tonight. we could see some upper 20s in some bay area neighborhoods. i'll show you those neighborhoods.

berkeley city council is set to vote next week on a resolution to invite guantanamo bay detainees who have been cleared of any wrong doing to live in berkeley. we spoke with the principal author of the proposal today and she told us under the plan the city would work with nonprofits, doctors, social workers and psychologists to council detainees who wanted to seek sanctuary in berkeley. just in the past hour, a court hearing involving a man accused of attacking a priest who he says molested him ended for the day. ktvu's robert honda joins us live. he is live at the courthouse to tell us what's next in this case. robert. >> reporter: that's right, julie. since our last report, we have

new information on what will happen next. inside the courtroom as most of the hall of justice was shutting down, the judge announced he will decide tomorrow morning at 9:30 whether william lynch will face a felony or misdemeanor charge of assault and could set a possible trial date. during our 5:00 newscast, the judge rejected the request. father gerald take the stand. the judge called it improper. about 15 minutes ago, lynch and his attorney came out upset and said the priest has evaded justice for years and did it again. >> ironically enough, here we have him not willing to step into a court to testify. once again, authorities protect it and don't let him come into the courtroom to tell his side of the story. >> the defense is limited in their ability to call witnesses and the court made a ruling with respect to that and i agree that the ruling was

legally accurate. >> father gerald avoided the large crowd of lynch supporters. he has never admitted guilt to any of the molestation accusations. again the judge will decide what will happen next tomorrow morning. live in san jose, robert honda, ktvu channel 2 news. a medical milestone was reached today at uc san francisco as the university opened the doors to its new stem cell research facility. the regeneration medicine building is located on the school's campus. it features 125 laboratories. the program is one of the largest and most comprehensive of its kind anywhere in the u.s. >> today is a day filled with promise and hope. we celebrate a feet in design and engineering, a building created to inspire a vital new field of exploration. >> the building cost $123 million. scientists will research conditions including diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.

a sidewalk flower garden has become the subject of a petition in san francisco's castro neighborhood. it started when the city issued a notice to the resident on sanchez street, asking him to get a permit for his potted plants or remove them. now next to it is a petition soliciting support for the garden. the city is fair about things, i think it's probably somebody is complaining, you know, raining on the parade. >> the city says that's exactly what happened. it has an obligation to address complaints. the city says it encourages residents to beautify their properties, but sometimes requires a permit. it's really something when you watch the newscast and you see the snow and whatnot back east and into the midwest and contrast it to what we're getting, spectacular. the views again today. they are incredible. >> yeah, amazing. california and of course it's the bay area. the best climate in the world. it's going to change, because we are going to get to rain

next week. we'll get to it. right now the winds have died down at the golden gate bridge. we have a wind at 9 miles an hour out of the northeast gusting to 10. let's go offshore. winds -- i got the water temperature with that. that northeast wind looks like this. that wind is going to stay that way for the next 12 hours or so. light, that means in the inland bay valley, it's going to get downright cold. we could see upper 20s up in the napa valley. if you are up in the santa rosa area, you are going to see 29, 31-degree readings tomorrow morning. be ready for cold overnight lows. colder than last night. daytime highs tomorrow, a lot like today. mid, upper 60s. out in the trivalley area. beautiful, great air quality, great afternoon temperatures, kind of mild. because it starts off so cold. you max out at 62 degrees at

3:30 tomorrow. dry mat earn, mostly sunny and high pressure owning the place. cool overnight lows. that goes away. the high goes. it has been there a long time. when it goes, it's going to go big time. these lows are going to tee up offshore and come one after another after another, at least that's how it looks right now. that would mean a very wet following week. plan accordingly. if you have plans, be ready because it's going to be dicey next week. everywhere you go, just because it's that time of year and these storms will pack a punch. some will have winds, some will have heavy rain events. we are going to get to them, we'll pace them out for you. 64 in fairfield. these are forecast highs for thursday. friday looks real good, too. saturday doesn't look bad. sunday, the clouds start to get in here. you'll see it on the five-day forecast. everything switches around. i got to say, this is what we need. the creeks are down, the ground water is down. we can accept whatever water

mother nature wants to offer us. that's next week. in the meantime, enjoy. >> i haven't seen those rain drops for a long time. >> thank you, bill. apple has the i touch and the ipad. now another bay area tech giant has the touch pad. in san francisco today, hewlett- packard entered the tablet space dominated by apple. the touch pad available this summer has a 9.7-inch screen, like the ipad. a front facing camera and weighs 1.6-pounds. palo alto based hp unveiled two new smart phones. the size of a credit card. dozens of job seekers got a chance to make their pitch to some of the bay area's top employers today. >> hire me. >> over 200 open positions were presented at a job fair in san francisco at the holliday inn golden gateway. stephanie clemens who you just heard from has been unemployed now for over a year. she told us she sends out a dozen resumes every day.

>> sometimes you don't get a second interview and you start plugging away again and keep trying. that's all you can do. >> career experts were on hand to provide a free professional resume review. home values in the silicon valley have dropped after rebounding from their 2009 low. this so-called double dip puts home values down more than 25% since their peek in 2006 and about 24% in san mateo. their latest downward trend started after the two tax breaks for home buyers. analysts say the incentives may have encouraged people to buy before they were ready. stocks reacted to federal reserve chairman's encouragement over the drop in unemployment. however, bernanke did warn it will take several years for hiring to return to normal. the dow went 6 points higher, gaining for the eighth day in a row. the nasdaq lost almost 8 points. n't tonight, american idol is coming to san francisco.

the bay area is the last stop on the audition tour and some idol hopefuls use costumes to make their mark, others hope their voices will be enough. look at that. you can catch the auditions tonight. that was clever. right here on ktvu channel 2 at 8:00 and tonight on the 10:00 news, we're going to have a behind the scenes look at the san francisco auditions for three idol hopefuls. and ktvu has an american idol special section, include ago slide show. the best and the worst auditions so far this season. it's a lot of fun. click on the american idol tab. all right, we're getting closer to learning the state of several sports teams. the law that could prevent cal from cutting sports even if it wanted to.

a decision expected tomorrow on whether cal will be able to save its baseball team along with several other sports programs, including women's gymnastics and lacrosse. and cut into women's sports could put the university into -- if the cuts are made, cal would have to add 50 spots for women and further eliminate 80 spots for men. the hope is that a fund raising

effort that is underway will be enough to get all those programs reinstated. many times we talked about the terrible weather in pebble beach, but not this time. it's just beautiful. >> it's holding one of the great things. you have the four rounds of great golf, but all week different festivities going on. joe is down there today and covered the charity event, which looked like it turned into a whole lot of fun. joe. >> reporter: it always is, mark, as you know, this is the one tournament where the amateurs and pros play together all four days if they make the cut. but wednesday has become the 3m celebrity challenge day and pairs of celebrities team up and try to earn money for their favorite charities. every now and then they make a shot or two. this is kevin costner making a shot. he and his partner, darius rutger for their charities. and ray coming oh so close. it came down to this. michael bolton playing with his

partner, clay matthews and needing a put at 18 for $19,000. ♪ when a man loves a woman >> anthony antedder son trying to ice bolton, but bolton made the big money put. you know, these are contemporary entertainers and musicians and they are asked about contemporary issues. kenny g asked about kristina agulara. >> when you get that chance, know the words, just do it. i know you are caught up in the emotion. you don't make mistakes. if i play the national anthem and i hit a wrong note, i deserve to be criticized for it. >> they get started for real. tomorrow reporting live from

pebble beach, i'm joe fonzi. mark. >> go get a great dinner on the peninsula, joe. sharks are leading 3-2. we'll have full highlights at 10:00. they are hot. five in a row maybe. >> mark, thank you. a recent police shooting is prompting a special meeting tonight in san francisco. coming up on bay area news at 7:00, police officers shot and injured a man in a wheelchair last december and some say tasers would have been a better answer. that story is coming up in 30 minutes on tv 36. thanks for joining us. good night.