the local mountains. get ready to rock because there's a very intense system that's poised right offshore and even a very cold rain with low snow levels today. also the commander of a drug task force is in jail himself. he's accused of dealing drugs. how this could effect the cases he's worked on if the incredible allegations are true. the morning news continues. good morning. thank you for joining us on this thursday february 17. good morning. i'm dave clark. let's check weather and traffic. here's steve. thank you very much. get ready. you'll need warm weather gear and rain gear today. keep an eye on the sky again today. we could get more reports of hail and low snow levels. that is a very developing and strong system right there that's coming in. that's going to give us a round of very cold rain.

in fact, i just heard cold pounding rain. highs in the 40s today. low snow levels and a possibility of severe weather. here's sal. steve, right now driving is going to be tough. you can look at our 101 picture. the camera is shaking because of gusty winds which you'll feel if you're driving across almost any bay area bridge this morning. and the morning commute is going to be effected by the -- some of the debris that's come down. some of the winds have blown tree branches et cetera on to the road. the latest example is highway 4 at 80. a lot of smaller examples people driving a little bit slower because of the weather. so use caution. 6:02. let's go back to the desk. all right. our time is now 6:02. we're following overnight news. this is just coming in from vallejo. pg&e is investigating reports of a gas leak and power outage at a safeway supermarket on lincoln road west. that supermarket went completely dark about 3:00 a.m. along with several dozen nearby homes. now it's not believed both a gas leak and power outage were

connected to a generator problem at that supermarket. the power is now back on. all of this is still being investigated. today san francisco's city attorney will announce a crackdown on crack pipes. the attorney will unveil a lawsuit against several excelsior district tobacco shops accused of selling pipes used to smoke crack cocaine. the lawsuit is the city's latest effort to target neighborhood smoke shops suspected of promoting illegal drug use. three people shot in east oakland are recovering from their wounds this morning. it happened at about just about 9:00 last night on hunter street. one victim, a woman, and she reportedly was shot in the back. police are searching for two people who may have escaped in what may have been a buick regal. all right. time now 6:03. tonight the pleasanton school district holds a meeting. they will deal with concerns about a middle school that received a failing grade on a

federally mandated benchmark. just 44% of the latino students at the middle school scored proficient in math. that is below the federally required target of 58%. tonight's meeting at pleasanton middle school begins at 7:00 p.m. president obama is coming here to the bay area this evening. the president will meet with high-tech business leaders at a private dinner. now he's trying to rally support for his recently released budget. among the executives expected to meet with the president, facebook's ceo and apple's steve jobs. the president will spend the night in san francisco before flying out tomorrow morning for oregon. he'll take a tour of an intell plant. one of the bay area's top narcotics officers is in jail himself this morning facing felony drug charges. ktvu's kraig debro joins us now to talk about his arrest and how it could effect many other cases. good morning, kraig. >> reporter: good morning, pam. we hope to speak to somebody at

the d.a.'s office later today about that in the public defender's office. some complications i'm going to get into that in a moment. they knew each other because both were in the antioch police department. he spent 12 years on the antioch force. we want to gauge reaction here in antioch from the people who knew both men. >> he is very upset. he's having a very difficult time with this. >> reporter: he's a long time ktvu analyst and norman's attorney. they're now in jail facing nearly two dozen felony charges. the ironny, he's the head contra costa county drug task force agent and butler a former cop. both federal agents -- both men arrested federal agents on wednesday morning in benicia. later yesterday search warrants were served and carried out at

butler's private eye business in concord. both are suspected of transporting and selling and there are other possible charges. he will seek to lower or eliminate the $660,000 bail. >> we will deal with bail. we may wait until we get into a courtroom to talk to a judge about either releasing him on his own recognizance or reducing that bail to a reasonable amount of money. >> reporter: butler's bail is $840,000. both men are being held at the contra costa county jail in martinez. no arraignment is scheduled right now. california department of justice tells us the investigation began last month. we'll make calls to find out what prompted the investigation and this is what i was talking about earlier, who will prosecute a man who actually worked for the people in charge

of prosecuting people charged of crimes he's now accused of. ktvu, channel 2 news. this morning we may hear from cal trans about plans to open the new eastern span of the bay bridge ahead of schedule. cal trans has scheduled an informational meeting at 10:00 this morning for the media. they will provide information about a series of upcoming detour that is will allow the new eastern span to be completed ahead of schedule. that schedule was set for traffic to be open in both directions on the new span in 2013. time now 6:07. let's see what sal is seeing in your commute this morning. how does it look, sal? so far, dave and pam, despite the weather the traffic is actually going to be moving okay if you are driving on many bay area commutes. we've had some problems and the gusty winds are going to catch your attention. so it's not all a great commute but for the most part we haven't had too many serious

injury accidents. we have one i'll tell you about in just a moment. traffic is moving along okay here at the bay bridge toll plaza. no major problems if you are driving into the city remember it's going to be very windy on that span. just be careful. also the morning commute's going to be okay on northbound 280. there is a brand new injury accident reported in san jose northbound 85 just after highway 17. a serious crash 85 traffic is just beginning to slow down. 6:08. let's go to steve. all right. , sal. thanks for the sweets coming in. a cold pounding rain. 39 in the santa cruz mountains. it's cold. that's at 1,000 feet. snow level's around 2500 feet. i know some of you might be in a hurry but just look right offshore. that's coming in and that's going to give us a cold rain. very blustery conditions. low snow levels. i mean it's going to be very tough today to really get

things going because that's just developing right off the coast. now we have bands embedded within this right now and some of that's moderate to heavy rain. look at that. right around vallejo and napa heading up 80 looks like fairfield, vacaville, back over towards highway 37. so that can be really -- that's tough. that's what's coming in. it's not lighting up yet but it's going to because it's still developing. some will be very heavy rain for a brief period of time. that's what we're dealing with throughout most of the day. there are some breaks. it's not a total loss here. it's going to be a day where we have a lot going on and maybe more reports of hail. low snow levels 2500 to 3,000 feet. next two days. next two days. and it's 2,000 feet up in the sierra. 40s. 38 in mountain view. that can't be right. i don't think so. imulyme nateing over that because usually don't see that at mofette. it's in the 40s.

it's cold out there. that's what has to swing in today. and that could even give some severe weather. we could have some severe weather today. cold rain. possible thunderstorms. and we'll continue this tonight into tomorrow. tomorrow it will turn more showery in nature. but it will be really cold here in the next couple days. and the sierra just heard from steve up at the keys two feet overnight. that's a lot at the keys. but he said it's hard to measure because it's been so windy. it's blowing snow. he says things have calmed downright now. there's a lot of snow up there until 10:00 p.m. friday winter storm warnings. and even in lake county to 2,000 feet winter weather advisories. we're not messing around. a lot going on. possible thunderstorms. colder. cloudy. upper 40s and low 50s on the temps. it's going to be a cold raw day. i think after saturday morning though i think we're looking better. it won't be warm but mostly sunny and mostly clear, breezy and cold sunday morning. all right. steve, that sounds good for the

parade. >> little break, yes. time now 6:11. bloody thursday. that is what protesters in the middle east have named today. the reason behind that very ominous name. and steve was just talking about the drive to the mountains could be another treacherous one. we're going to talk live with a reporter who is right where a lot of people will be driving trying to get to that new powder. good morning. if you're driving in the bay area, the weather is going to make for a tough and perhaps adventurous commute. we'll give you details straight ahead.

welcome back to the morning news. riot police swinging clubs and firing rubber bullets attacked demonstrators while many of them were still sleeping in a protest camp. reportedly three people were killed, hundreds of others injured. protesters are calling today bloody thursday. the government has now put the capital city on lockdown telling everyone to stay off the streets. the iraqi chemical engineer who was the source of the u.s. information that saddam hussein supposedly had weapons of mass destruction now says he made it all up. [ foreign language ] >> i had to do something for my country. so i did this and i'm satisfied because there is no dictator in iraq anymore. >> the man came to be known as curve ball. former secretary of state collin powell used the

statements to justify going to war with iraq at united nations. back here at home another 18 inches of snow predicted in the sierra by tomorrow night. cal trans is enforcing chain requirements on interstate 80 and highway 50. our reporter joining us live in the colfax in placer county. i know they're getting ready for that next round of winter storms. you're right there were the we're in it here, dave. you can see around me here in colfax we're at 2500 feet here first encountered around 2,000 feet. we picked up a good three quarters to an inch of snow at this very low elevation. you can hear a truck going behind me. chaining up here in colfax for a long run over interstate 80 this morning if you're heading up to the ski area. i skied the better part of the day yesterday it was awesome. two feet of snow with another 18 coming in. temperatures are much colder now. that means it's going to be lighter drier snow. just getting there though you're going to have to battle

the traffic and battle the snow on interstate 80. just take it slow. you'll be fine getting there as the snow really coming down at these low elevations. a lot of folks excited to have it after a month of no new snow it's here. finally the storm pipe is open and i'm thinking powder day again. >> you can't even contain your excitement. just for the folks here getting around at this hour, we're looking at pictures ask cars moving behind you. how is it getting around right now? >> reporter: here in colfax for lower elevations the snow's not sticking to the roadways. so that's good news for the folks at the lower elevations in the foothills that don't deal with this very often. but out on interstate 80 as you get up past the chain control area it's pretty rough. the snow's kind of packed down. it's lumpy. it's kind of a four wheel off road experience as i was saying yesterday, similar again today getting over interstate 80. as long as you're going the speed limit you'll be fine.

but they were a number of spin outs and jackknifed trucks yesterday. >> you mentioned a lot of the resorts happy to see this because they've been hurting for the past few weeks. tomorrow starts the beginning of a long president's weekend. are they going to have extra crews out there to make sure the roads are clear to help drivers get up there? >> reporter: yeah. we talked to cal tran and their dorms are full. the snowplow operators actually live in dorms during a storm cycle. they don't go home. they stay here. they're going out and doing their part. it was simply so intense at points they would make one pass and the road was covered. skiing yesterday i would make one run and come back around and my tracks were more than half buried just one run later. gives you an idea of some of the intensity of the snow they've had to deal with. going into the holiday weekend it's a huge deal for the sierra economy. and you can bet they're going to do everything they can to keep the roadways open. >> that's interesting. i didn't know they camped out up there. thank you for joining us live there colfax off of 80. so as people head to tahoe we're going to be updating the

weather and roads throughout the morning and tomorrow ahead of that big weekend. our coverage also continues on the channel 2 website where you can check storm tracker 2 any time. you can get the very latest ski conditions. click on the storm watch tab on our website at ktvu.com. well, on capitol hill congress is going through president obama's spending plan line by line looking for places to cut. house republicans are looking to cut $61 billion for the remaining seven months of the federal fiscal year that ends to be the 1st. so far the only thing democrats and republicans have been able to agree on canceling $450 million for a back up engine for a fighter jet. massachusetts senator scott brown is speaking out about the years of physical and sexual abuse he suffered as a child. in a television interview, the republican senator who took over for the late ted kennedy talks about the abuse and the lasting consequences he

endured. brown has also written a book about the trauma associated with being a victim which will be released on tuesday. time now 6:19. the california supreme court is now right in the middle of the battle over proposition 8, california's same sex marriage ban. as early as september the court will hear arguments to decide if the sponsors of proposition 8 have legal standing to defend that band. the group protect marriage says it has stepped in after state officials refused. >> we're glad that the court is dealing with this. we support the ninth circuit coming to the california supreme court. and it's good to resolve this once and for all. >> we're talking a couple of years probably until we get a final resolution on this question. and if you're gay and you want to be married, that is really frustrating. >> now, final outcome could take a couple of years because the issue's expected to end up in the u.s. supreme court. meantime in hawaii a standing ovation from the audience. state lawmakers there passed a

civil unions bill. this will give same sex couples in hawaii the same rights as married heterosexual couples. hawaii's governor is expected to sign the bill into law within the next ten days. civil unions would begin in hawaii january 1st of next year. an ancient relic from a catholic saint will be on display at a berkeley parish today. it's a bone believed to be that of st. mary mag dollin. she's recorded in the bible as the first witness to the resurrection of jesus christ 2,000 years ago. appropriately enough that bone will be on display at st. mary mag da learn parish. they were displayed in oakland and antioch earlier this week. officials are examining different ideas to prevent drug overdoses and deaths following a series of incidents at the cal palace. it's been three months since raves were banned from the cal palace following the death of two people last may and 12 people hospitalized in october.

now lawmakers and police are meeting about the best way to go forward. the latest idea by senator yee would give the mayors two appointments each to the cal palace board. time now 6:21. breaking news coming from hercules right now. ktvu's claudine wong just arrived on the scene where a tree crashed down over a major freeway. claudine is getting set up there. you know this just happened. we're going to bring claudine back and get those details as soon as we can get her in a couple of minutes. again, this just happened in hercules. tree crashed down on a major freeway. we'll get all the details. all right. we also have an update on a crash in the south bay. let's go to sal for that. all right. it's a car that flipped over on highway 85, dave and pam. northbound 85 just after highway 17. this car flipped over and then landed back on its wheels. the person inside understandably was hurt. there's a very small back up there. and the police and fire

department are on the scene. again, this is 85 northbound as you drive -- a lot of people drive from southern san jose and use 85 to get up to cooper tee know. also 280 northbound -- 280 southbound at page mill there's an accident. i think i messed that up again. i'm sorry. 280 northbound at page male an accident car spun off the road. southbound there is a back up. that's what i was trying to say. 280 northbound before 85 there's an accident in cooper tin no. all over the place a lot of minor accidents. major one on 85 north at 17 north. let's move along and take a look at the bay bridge westbound coming up to the toll plaza. no problems coming into san francisco. there's a small delay at the toll plaza. it's gusty on the bridge. gusty winds, gusty winds in san francisco. let's take a look at the commute here in san francisco. you can see northbound 101 looks okay, but the inbound is really shaking the camera and

also going to be tough for you to drive in that wind. 6:23. let's go to steve. sal, thank you, sir. another wild ride today on the weather because it looks like a very vigorous system poised to move on shore here in the next couple hours. that will take us through right there. already enhancing when you see the whiter tops that's the colder and that's developing right off the marin coast. we have rain out ahead of it. snow levels as well. trying to focus on what looks to be the strongest cells right near napa american canyon to napa and stretching out towards fairfield. i just talked to a friend of mine in corp dell ya said nothing there. that's pretty active. might be enhanced a little bit. there's going to be some cells like that going through. 40s i figured 38 at mountain view. that's because that's what it feels like when you have a 44- degree temperature and a southeast wind at 12. but they're 44 degrees and everybody's in the 40s. snow down to around 3,000 feet. that low has to swing in. that could give us anything

today including a possibility of tornadoes. wouldn't surprise me out to the valley. cold rain, moderate to heavy, upper 40s low 50s on these temperatures. a raw day. cloudy, mostly cloudy and off and on rain maybe more thunderstorms into friday. i think after saturday morning see improving conditions but really cold sunday morning. pam and dave. all right. thank you, steve. well, this morning the labor department announced new applications for jobless benefits rose again last week. that puts the number of people filing for first time claims at 410,000. that's up 25,000 from the week before. now most economists expected an increase of about half that. continuing claims were also up slightly to 3.91 million. time now 6:24. if you like to swim, we'll tell you where you don't want to go. amazing video. a swarm of sharks, hundreds of them, swimming side by side.

california is the nation's only state close to building a high speed railway now that florida canceled its project. is that good news or bad news for california? good morning. it's raining out there. and of course rain brings out traffic issues. we'll tell you where they are and how you can avoid them straight ahead. caitlin: i was diagnosed with scoliosis. when you're 16, nobody wants to go through back surgery.

my doctor has letters and pictures of other kids who've gone through the same thing on his walls and that really helped me not be as scared. i'm not worried about my back anymore. i wanna do that again! announcer: at sutter health, our story is you. for more stories, visit sutterhealth.org.

good morning. right now traffic on the bridges looking okay, but the winds are gustation those bridges this morning. especially on the san mateo and richmond bridge. it's going to get your attention on the bay bridge and golden gate as well. all right, sal. time now 6:28. california's high speed rail project could be getting a $2 billion boost. this comes after florida's governor, rick scott, turned down the federal money for a similar project in his state. the governor says the project would be too expensive for taxpayers and the risk outweighs the benefits. now officials say the bulk of that rejected money could come here to california. >> california's probably first in line because that is a major system. they needed additional money. this will be a boost to their efforts. >> now governor jerry brown says the money is more than welcome here and that california can lead the country in demonstrating the need for

high speed rail. critics here also doubt that project. they say it won't meet rider expectations and will be very expensive to operate. once again, hundreds of sharks have invaded the waters in florida. you have to see this to believe this amazing video. this mass migration takes place every year. hundreds of sharks swim up and down the florida coastline only about 100 yards offshore. most are black tip and spinner sharks which are not considered dangerous to tourist or surfers. however the county has closed two popular beaches just to be safe. we're talking about weather this morning. more severe weather headed our way. we'll have all the details. stay with us.

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good morning. this morning we have a tree

that came down. it came down over a freeway offramp. this huge tree came down. ktvu's claudine wong is there. claudine, what's it doing to traffic? >> reporter: well, sal, it is backed up traffic quite a bit on the highway 4 connector. if you take a look you can see a long line of cars. highway patrol and firefighters basically took a chain saw and they cut off all the huge pieces so they could get traffic moving again. they're waiting for cal trans to come out and clean it up and get this to really back up and moving. it's really done its damage. i want to take you here where the tree basically toppled over. we assume it's the heavy rains. when it came down the highway patrol says a couple cars ran into it but no one was injured.

they cut off the heavy branches and tossed everything to the side. if you take a look you can see what they tossed over to the side to get it out of the way of the roadway. at this time we're just waiting for cal trans to come out and clean it up. highway patrol watching the situation. again, state road 4 at the 80 interchange. this is 80 traffic moving okay here. if you're coming from state road 4, it is slow. this all happened at 5:00 this morning. but it looks like this is going to be an issue for at least a little while. right here in hercules, claudine wong, ktvu channel 2 news. all right. time now 6:33. overnight the storm also brought in more hailstorms. someone in san bruno gave us this -- posted this video on youtube. this is interstate 280 near crystal springs road. look close. you can see the freeway was covered in ice. and on a street nearby so much ice you can see footprints people left behind. and cars parked on the streets, they were covered with hail. now the storm is also battering the coastline and

creating very dangerous conditions for beach visitors there. ktvu's tara moriarty is in pacifica right now with an update on the access to the pier. good morning, tara. >> reporter: good morning. pacifica police decided half an hour ago to keep the pier closed this morning. we just got off the phone with dispatch and they tell us they'll re-evaluate the situation this morning. yesterday they actually closed the pier all day. it looks like fishermen will once again be out of luck today. now the national weather service has issued a high surf advisory in effect until 3:00 this afternoon. experts predict swells up to 20 feet at some area beaches. we may also experience some flooding along the coast. during storms like this pacifica police say they monitor the surf positions and keep the gates locked when it's too dangerous for the public. >> we just make sure the waves are not coming over the pier. it's basically going out at their own risk.

we won't open if the waves are coming over. >> reporter: a little later this morning a couple of blocks away city engineers will be out to inspect that eroding cliff. that is where two apartment buildings have been red tagged since 2009. officials will be looking to see if this latest series of storms has further destabilized the hillside. now back here live high tide just rolled in about half an hour ago and rip tides are expected to be extremely powerful. so officials say it's a pretty good idea to stay away from the beach if at all possible today. live in pacifica, i'm tara moriarty, ktvu channel 2 news. all right. we're going to keep following all of the latest storm information throughout the morning. of course steve paulson is here. you can also get up to the minute weather updates on our channel 2 website at ktvu.com. just look under the weather tab. in other news this morning, a former american airlines ticket agent is accused this morning of stealing credit card information from hundreds of customers. investigators say johnson from concord has been tied to about

half a million dollars in purchases over the past three years. they say she stole customers' credit card information while working at the san jose airport. she then used that information to buy gift cards two or three times a day. johnson has been charged with 66 counts of grand theft. if convicted, she could face almost 50 years in prison. a popular chain store in a high end san francisco neighborhood has been a target of an armed robbery. the robber walked into the william sonoma store on chestnut tuesday night and say he pointed a gun at a clerk and demanded cash. the clerk complied and was not injured. but it's still unclear how much money was stolen. right now there's also no description of the suspect. time now 6:36. today vallejo police are expected to release the name of a man whose body was found in the strait. according to the coast guard the body was pulled from the strait near vallejo about 2:30 yesterday afternoon. investigators say it's still

not clear how the man died. 14-year-old boy who is accused of planning to kill his teacher is in juvenile hall this morning. he was arrested on tuesday. police say when they searched his belongings they found a notebook that contained notes on how he planned to attack his teacher. the suspect is a freshman at the high school. police say he was angry because he believed the teacher embarrassed him in class. a second suspect in san francisco's funeral parlor scam is due in court today. investigators say a now defunct funeral home in the bayview district bilked several families out of pre-paid funeral expenses. donald rollins of fairfield surrendered yesterday, the same day his former boss was in court. the funeral parlor owner, derek washington of oakland, was charged with grand theft and other felonies. time now 6:37. thanks to a new settlement the city of oakland is now making

city services available to chinese and spanish speakers. the settlement which takes effect this week requires that all city documents and telephone messages be translated. it also requires the city to hire an adequate number of spanish and chinese speakers whenever public positions become available. well, there could be a change in how northern california crab fishermen begin their season if a state lawmaker has her way. santa rosa state senator evans wants to limit the number of crab pods that can be placed out there. right now california only issues 600 permits for crab fishing, but they don't limit how many pods each fishermen can have. california is the only state that does not place a limit. and local fishermen support evans' idea. two women convicted of posing as san bruno explosion victims won't do anymore jail time. yesterday a judge placed them on three years probation and gave them credit for the jail time they've already served.

lisa justin and sonja smith were the first two defendants convicted of scams tied to last september's pipeline disaster. investigators say they claim they lost their hopes to get free hotel rooms, gift cards and other benefits. time now 6:39. once again we're waking up to stormy weather. sal's watching everything especially in the south bay. yeah. we're starting there, dave and pam, because we've had a serious crash and a lot of fender benders. 85 northbound again still clearing this accident at 17. if you're a 17 driver, please let me know how the drive has been. there's been a fog advisory there. you can go ahead and e-mail me through ktvu.com or find me on twitter. send me a tweet and i will share that with the rest of everyone who is watching. if you're driving from hayward, union city and fremont or westbound 580 and then heading on 880 south, it's a little bit slow in hayward as you get out to the 92 interchange. livermore traffic off the pass is going to be slow. we checked the peninsula now highway 101 san mateo, redwood

city southbound 101 is okay. 280's a little slow at 380. and then san francisco itself 19th avenue is a mess. 101 slow at the 280 interchange. let's go to live pictures now. i want to show you that these are live pictures of that tree down on highway 4 at 80 in hercules. you saw claudine telling us about how they basically just shoved the tree over the side of the area there. cal trans is there. that gentleman has a saw in his hand. they're going to be getting rid of it. this is on the connector ramp from highway 4 right there to highway 80. and for a while it blocked one of the lanes here. and that's causing slow traffic on highway 4. and this morning if you're going to the bay bridge toll plaza it is backed up for about five to ten minute wait. now at 6:40 let's two to steve. sal, thank you, sir. lots going on. get to it. if you have weather information you can always tweet me. great information yesterday on hail and today it's snow and all sorts of information. snow down to 1,000 feet in lake

county. snow advisories out there, winter weather advisories at 2,000 feet for the mountains of lake county and sierra nevada and mother load. there's plenty going on. i'm standing right in front of a developing -- there's a technical name for it but i won't tell you. these are really intense. right there. look at that. these could drop really heavy rain. right now looks like it's focusing most of its energy right on marin county and north bay. there are some breaks towards the peninsula. and then some rain down towards santa cruz mountains and stretching out. i want to give you a wide view here some of that snow in lake county. that green turning to white there. that could be a winter wonderland. this next system right here is funneling right -- watch right there. that's what's coming in next. this could be another wild ride as far as weather with more thunderstorms and maybe hail and there are possibilities today. a low possibility of tornadoes out to the valley. it's that intense of a system. snow levels 2500 to 3,000 feet the next two days. lower than that the farther north you go or up in the

mountains. look at the temperatures in the 40s. feels like with the south wind up to 20 or 25 about 36, 37, 38. been a long time since i've seen 44 or 45 for everybody. only fairfield at 43. everyone else is close. that system has to work its way in today. it's coming in. cold air support and swings in like that. these can be really heavy rain for a brief period of time. it's a cold rain today. possibility of thunderstorms. showers will continue along with that cold air in place. and very low snow levels next couple days. this gives you a better idea san jose, santa cruz mountains, break peninsula and taking itself right towards marin county and north bay. the sierra, two feet at lake level so far. if you're at north shore e-mail me or tweet me as well. winter storm warning until 10:00 p.m. friday. feet around 2,000 feet at the snow level. thunderstorms possible. really a cold rain today with low snow levels, highs upper 40s for many today. very low 50s.

that 54 in san jose might be in jeopardy. i'll stick with my guns because we were right on yesterday. sometimes the weather behaves on the forecasted highs. unsettled through friday. cold and breezy quieting down until next week when the rain returns. steven is modest. he's usually right. >> i know. he always is. the biggest solar flare in four years. and scientists say it's heading for earth. the impact that radiation could have. what? the oakland raiders are evil? shocking words from a very surprising source. good morning. westbound traffic on the bay bridge is okay but the wind will get your attention on most bay area bridges. we'll tell you more about the morning commute straight ahead.

good morning to you. welcome back. we are watching our winter storm this morning. it is effecting our morning commute. but here are other top stories we're following the. one of the bay area's top narcotics officers is in jail this morning. he's accused of selling drugs as they have been seized on the street and later stored in police evidence lockers. the california supreme court now right in the middle of proposition 8, california's same sex marriage ban. as early as september the court

will hear arguments to determine if the sponsors of proposition 8 have legal standing to defend that ban. and president obama is coming here to the bay area this evening. he'll be meeting with high-tech business leaders. the president will have dinner with the top executives of facebook, apple and google just to name a few. no public appearances are scheduled. a warning now in effect for the biggest solar flare to hit the earth in four years. it's a large explosion in the sun's atmosphere that sends x- rays and ultraviolet radiation in our direction. scientists say it could cause radio blackouts. the warning issued by the national oceanic and atmospheric administration is in effect until sunday. a somber anniversary today. it was one year ago that a small plane crashed in an east palo alto neighborhood killing three tesla workers. one house was badly damaged when that plane went down. it still hasn't been repaired. neighbors say it serves as a grim reminder of that tragic

day. the plane crashed after hitting a power pole shortly after takeoff. the widow of one of the victims is now suing the deceased pilot's family claiming the accident could have been prevented. time now 6:48. a gunman who robbed a sears department store may have hid inside the store and waited until closing time to strike. this happened about 9:30 tuesday night at the sears store at north gate in tear linda. the suspect entered an office, pulled a gun on the manager and demanded cash. he fired a shot in the manager's direction but missed. that suspect escaped with an undisclosed amount of cash. the suspect in the murders of two women near yosemite was found dead. sheriff deputies say the 71- year-old man killed himself inside of his home. now he was suspected of shooting and killing his wife at a restaurant on bass lake yesterday. police say he then killed his wife's attorney in the

restaurant's parking lot. police aren't giving us any other details on what led up to that shooting. well, the oakland raiders are getting some harsh criticism from a very unlikely source this morning. former defense secretary donald rumsfeld called the silver and black evil. he said that during his book tour when the subject turned to the super bowl. rumsfeld said he supports the pittsburgh steelers because they are the long time rivals of the oakland raiders. then he said "nobody could support the raiders. they are evil ." that's going to upset a lot of people. >> oh, boy. 6:49 is the time. let's check in with sal because there are a number of things to be aware of before you head out on the road. >> that's right. we're watching all the commute. this morning we have just a bunch of fender intenders and slow traffic. let's start off and take a look at this tree that came down on highway 4 connector to

interstate 80. huge tree as claudine wong was on the scene told us they are just -- they have cut it. they're going to put part of it into that chipper right there. some is going to go over the side. but the main objective obviously is to get it out of the lanes. highway 4 is backed up getting to 80. 80 with the freeway you see there doing okay but people coming off of highway 4 they're reduced down to just a lane here. it's going to be slow because people are looking at what's going on. obviously people slowing down because of this activity. and it's going to have an effect on highway 4. let's go out and take a look at the commute now at the bay bridge toll plaza. it's about a 10 minute delay here at the pay gates. this morning's commute is going to be okay on westbound 580 coming from castro valley. 880 southbound's all right heading to the south bay. 85 northbound at 17 a crash. peninsula southbound and northbound 101. southbound 101 at mofette one of the right lanes flooded. 6:50, let's go to steve. thank you, sir. cloudy, mostly cloudy. cold rain today.

system just offshore beginning to move into the north bay. it's going to give us a wide variety of weather. you can see where the line is forming there. there are some breaks, but down towards san jose, santa cruz mountains and also right there in marin county there's been some lines forming. occasionally some of these come through. they've dropped some very heavy rain and then move off. that's what's moving in right there taking right in between point rays and then just moving straight across marin county into the north bay. also look at that. that snow i would say mt. hamilton getting snow and then wrapping back around rain and a little bit of snow mixed in there maybe up in the santa cruz mountains. the main focus right now the system that's coming in is in the north bay. there could be again some severe weather coming in later today. we'll have to keep an eye on everything because of right there. look at that. see how it's hardly anything and then it just pops up? kaboom. that may give some wide variety of severe weather out to the valley later on. we really need some heat. we don't have heat. it's cold. but still you're getting a very

dynamic system and some good upper level wind too as this vigorous little system comes in. 40s on the temps. and you'll continue to see that system rotate in today and tomorrow. i think through friday evening we'll have some off and on rain and there will be snow, low snow levels for the sierra nevada winter storm warning until 10:00 p.m. friday already at two feet. snow level there is at 2,000 feet. around 1,000 in lake county. low snow levels. colder rain possible thunderstorms upper 40s. if you're in the higher elevations maybe even low 40s for highs today. we'll keep this going through friday. saturday morning though things calm down. i think saturday night cold and breezy. but dry. sunday cold but sunny. and then partly cloudy, partly sunny on monday. all right. time now 6:52. we'll take a quick break. we'll be right back.

welcome back to the morning news. consumer prices are up. jobless claims are up. and the stocks are down. on that news live look at the big board. dow jones up 28 points. the nasdaq and s&p 500 are both slipping a little bit as well. a volunteer firefighter from sonoma county is suing pg&e. his lawsuit stems from a fire six months ago. he was seriously injured by a 12,000 watt power line while

fighting that fire. he contends that the high tension line was problem prone and that pg&e should have known it posed a danger. pg&e is not commenting. time now 6:56. tough week for the "american idol" hopefuls trying to make it through to the next round. ♪ [ music ] >> yep. last night the contestants participated in group night. now that's considered the toughest part of the competition. but despite having to all work together, some of them stood out. judge randy jackson liked what he saw. >> this is the best talent i think we've ever had. i think by all of us here and all of the people that have been, even ryan, he knows, this is probably the best hollywood week we've ever had. >> after last night about 100 contestants remain in the competition including a young singer from oaring da. tonight that number will be cut down again after yet another 40 to 50 idol hopefuls get cut

following the final round of their solo performances. you can see all of the hollywood action tonight right here on ktvu channel 2 beginning at 8:00 p.m. i think the talent pool is bigger this year than last year. it's going to be hard to cut people at some point. let's go to sal and check in on traffic. all right. we're watching contra costa county. we've had a lot of accidents highway 4 is busy. highway 4 approaching 80's also slowed because of that tree down that they're removing now if you're driving on highway 4 to 80 plan on a slow down. of course more traffic coming up soon. let's go to steve. sal, cloudy, mostly cloudy. cold rain today. blustery conditions just not very nice. it's going to give us much needed rain. a rather strong system just poised right off the coast and that's going to swing in today and possibility of severe weather exists later this afternoon as well. so lots going on. pam and dave. we'll keep talking about this on mornings on 2. lots to tell you about about this storm. we have team coverage on the

weather battering the bay area. claudine wong is at a big tree problem that we'll tell you about. also the bay area's nuclear weapon lab has a cocaine problem apparently. we're going to explain. statuas.

president obama will be in the bay area tonight to meet with the biggest names in the silicon valley. "mornings on 2" starts now. well, good morning to you. welcome to "mornings on 2." i'm dave clark. >> i'm tori campbell. it's thursday, february 17th. another round of rain is hitting the bay area. steve, where is the main event? >> north bay, right now,er tory. but it will be for -- right