lives in wood side. behind me you see again, air force one. the president's visit will be very short, he will leave tomorrow morning to visit an intel plant in oregon, leaving again on air force one. david stevenson, ktvu news. the south gate is catching the tail end of a major storm front at this hour that pounded the bay area all day. people darted under overhangs and pulled out that you are their umbrellas. we have live team coverage tonight beginning with our chief meteorologist bill martin who is tracking this latest storm, bill. >> this one is right on schedule. we talked about the chance of storms, now we're getting scattered showers. we go to live storm tracker 2. we go out to concord, walnut creek, out to mount diablo.

we have rainfall, north and east of livermore dropping pretty significant rain. that's up near happy valley up in lafayette. if you go out here toward san leandro, and the most heavy rain is out toward lahanda. and the president is flying toward the silican valley. it'll be interesting to see where they do in fact, put down the ace force -- air force helicopter. now i'll be back in just a couple of minutes. i'll see you back here. the wet roads are proving treacherous for drivers today. i want to show you an accident in orinda where a car spun out of control. sal castaneda is live now in berkeley with the latest on all the chp has been doing tonight to handled the numerous calls

for traffic accidents around the area, sal. >> reporter: right now the chp is reporting about 20 collisions. it's a little bit more than normal. you can see the freeway is still very slow. the roads are still wet everyone though the rain has stopped here in berkeley. as drivers all day have been struggling to drive in wet weather. on rainy days, chp says collisions tend to be more serious and as the crashes pile up, some drivers get frustrated and try to make up time by driving faster which in turn leads to more problems. this hit and run crash in san leandro sent one person to the hospital. many blame the collisions on bad driving. >> people forget how to drive in the rain. >> they just have a melt down when the rain comes and they can't function. >> reporter: road hazards are also a problem. some drivers don't notice large pools of water until it's too late. still others try to take turns too quickly. >> don't hit the breaks hard. just slow your car down

gradually, that way the weight shift phenomenon doesn't throw off your car. >> people want to go 30 or 40 miles on the roadway and when the roads are slippery they expect nothing dangerous to happen. >> reporter: delays now in the half hour have come back to sort of normal. this is what it normally looks like. the accident counter, the collision count pardon me is getting close tore what it should be. sal castaneda, ktvu news. stormy conditions always cause concerns about those apartment buildings that are teetering in a cliff. the cliff is being protected by an offshore barrier created by a small mountain of sand. it appears the sand eroded off if cliffs just to the north along esplanade drive. now to the north bay where they saw pretty much everything today. snow, rain and rising water.

ktvu's mike mibach is live in marin county with more on the situation there. >> reporter: what a wild day we've had here. from the morning, to the afternoon to even now. we are starting to see pockets of clear skies above the golden gate bridge. that obviously as you can see has changed. the north bay has it all. the hail, the rain and even the snow -- the north bay had it all. snowplows in napa county. today that was the case, so much snow highway patrol closed highway 29. that's south of marin county, roadways were flooded, trees were chopped and awnings blown away. >> i love the rain. it's the best. >> reporter: come on you love it? >> i love the rain. >> it's dumping, nonstop just about 20 minutes ago. >> reporter: emily wright is talking about petaluma where today a few hours of flooding

danger were placed. >> this is nothing, this is great. it's beautiful. >> where would we be without the rain. >> reporter: after a few dry weeks the rain is a welcome site this winter season. mike mibach. the same system is bringing a lot of new snow to the sierra. right now if you're headed to tahoe, authorities have shut down interstate 80 eastbound near colfax. as much as 3 feet of snow is reported in the mountains. another two to three feet is expected by tomorrow afternoon. ski resorts are expecting the upcoming president's day weekend to be one of the busiest of the season. ktvu viewers are sending us their pictures of the weather. christopher costeli caught this down tree in pope valley in napa county. send us your pictures and we'll try to share them on the air. just e-mail them to photos at k

tvu.com. a former walnut creek police officer has been arrested on charges that he had sex with a minor. police say 45-year-old sean wallis was arrested two weeks ago. he had worked as a detective handling juvenile crimes. wallis' attorney michael rains spoke to ktvu. the minor then 17-year-old girl lives with wallis because her living situation was unbearable. wallis is currently out on bail after being booked on charges including unlawful sex with a minor. he has not yet been formally charged. we have a new information tonight about the commander of an east bay task force charged with dealing drugs. 49-year-old norman welsh was the commander of the the narcotic team. he now sits in jail facing as many as 25 felonies. welsh's attorney michael cardoza describes welsh as a

stellar official. >> what it could mean as a system as a whole. you might see cases dismissed 678 678 -- you might see dozens of cases dismissed. >> reporter: the da says they plan to arrange welsh sometime tomorrow. and a lawsuit targeting the shopping selling smoking pipes. >> when you have elicit drug activity, it's targeting the community. >> the suit seeks thousands of dollars in penalties and could lead to court injunction from

keeping the business from selling drug marijuana. the lawyer for paul garcia has filed court papers saying a new witness will testify that drugs not a romantic rivalry were behind the fatal shooting of restaurant owner mark akile in 2008. garcia's pretrial motion is expected to be heard next month. he faces life in prison without parol. police and firefighters are taking stock tonight one year after a plane crashed into a neighborhood in east palo alto. tonight they share with us video taken during the first horrifying moment of that crash. ktvu's robert handa live in east palo alto tonight with a story you will see only on two, robert. >> well frank, just this evening the minlow park district completed this report on the crash to be sent to the faa, ntsb and made available to the public. today ktvu got video of the first police unit arriving in this neighborhood one year ago. the video has never been seen by the public and shows the

hectic first minutes after the crash. what officers and firefighters remember first, extreme fog. severe weather some people believe contributed to the plane crash. so at first officers didn't realize the full situation until they saw part of a plane burning with flames spreading. >> my guess - - >> when we went further we saw two structures fully engulfed in fire. >> reporter: responders priority, restrict the public. some were rushing to their houses, some hysterical. >> we have to take our emotions out of the picture and we have to do what we can get done. >> reporter: communication between agencies has been set up as well as procedures to guide future firefighters. >> the training will be in the exercising, those are important things that need to be done. >> reporter: a year later some responders feel a mix of sadness and relief. >> that truly was a miracle,

the miracle on beach street that more people were injured or killed. had the preschool been in session or people had been out on those streets, we would have lost a lot more people than just the three involved. so it really was a miracle that day. >> reporter: and as you can tell by this neighborhood memorial, it is a feeling that still exists one year later. live in east palo alto, robert handa, ktvu channel 2 news. a relic of one of christianity's most important figures is on display right now in the bay area. the relic of st. mary magdalin is on display at st. mary magdaline parish. she is recorded in the bible as being the first witness to jesus' resurrection. >> she was a preacher and she preached all over the south of france. it feels she's here to do the same thing, to bring the church to the people.

>> reporter: a special mass for the relic is set for 7:30 tonight. a viewing and prayer will continue until 9:00 this evening. coming up here, the next step will be a big one. or should we say a tall one. the key arrival that is keeping the bay bridge project on track. also ahead, so sweet it might be called tin fold. a new move to levy a tin tax on your next can of soda. -- a new move to levy a syntax on your next can of soda.

governor jerry brown is asking the state's top watchdog agencies to each create a top ten list of ways to save money. he's asking the state auditor and the little hoover commission to find ways to cut government spending. the auditor is charged with examining agencies for

potential waste, fraud and mismanagement. brown has asked the agencies to submit their lists by march 4th. critical pieces of the new bay bridge tower have arrived. tom vacar has gotten details on when this piece will arrive. >> reporter: by april the immensity of the gleaming white signature tower will be on full display. once again the ship from shanghai has brought in enormous pieces of the large puzzle that will be the eastern span of the bay bridge. most notably this shipment is the last four tower parts that will sit atop the three previous tiers erected. >> at the end of this month heading into march we'll be putting all four of those in place in an operation that will go around the clock. >> reporter: in the yard the crown, the top cap of the bridge with its massive grooves that will hold the suspension

cables that will give the bridge it's high quake resis resistance. >> we'll be completing that task at the end of the march. @ it's going to spend the next 150 years 150 feet in the air. >> reporter: in may a huge bypass will be constructed on the eastern side of the span to help completion of the new touchdown in oakland. by the end of the year the huge cable system will begin going in place for an expected completion date in the fall of 2013. four to six months early. >> there's nothing in the world that looks just like it but it reflects who we are in the bay area. >> another bonus, if all of this goes going according to schedule, this bridge will be done sometime in enough time to be showcased during the america's cup worldwide.

we'll see it all over the world. i'm consumer editor, tom vacar, ktvu channel 2 news. sodas, energy drinks and other sugary drinks could be hit by a new tax. the bill would impose a penny per ounce tax. the measure would go toward childhood obesity programs. >> the reality is, if we don't act now, we're all going to pay. every taxpayer in this state will pay for the unchecked costs of obesity. >> the american beverage association has opposed similar soda taxes saying they don't make people healthier but just amount to a money grab. a volunteer firefighters is suing pg & e saying the the utility knew the line that sparked a house fire in bodega

bay was dangerous. the firefighter was injured while fighting a fire. sate investigators plan to complete their probe next month. on to our weather, it was absolutely pouring today. over to chief meteorologist bill martin, maybe some more rain on the way, bill. >> we're looking at something right now. we go to live storm tracker 2: you see the showers are sitting around oakland. lingering showers, we have some moderate showers. radar just updating so you see that die down. what i'm tracking mainly, pardon me is this line of showers down here down toward mountain view. everything is tracking in this direction. you can see these showers, i mean it sort of stalled out here. i will put it in motion, you see that line stay put the last few frames. rainfalling right now in fremont, now toward mountain view and san jose. not a big deal for the showers but it is wet and it is the afternoon commute. so here it is along i80 and 101

there you're going to see slower traffic. the forecast as we go into tomorrow, more scattered showers possible. weekend looks okay. it's going to be a little breezy out there. if you head out you're going to find snow at low elevations. mount diablo has snow right now. i know there's snow on hamilton and up on 17 on the way over to santa cruz. snow levels are low tonight. a dusting here, a dusting there, none of this is a big deal. temperatures will be mostly in the north bay valley. the frontal system slides northeast. the potential for this to wrap around again exists. watch what the computer model does here. here we are 11:00 tonight, those line of showers linger right across there. then we get into tomorrow morning, dry commute, but watch the motion here as we get into -- starts to come back. that's the wrong direction. storms don't do that do they.

the run runs south. this would be not a big deal. shouldn't be a big deal if it occurs. but let's look for showers possibly tomorrow. i think tomorrow is going to be a pretty nice day, compared to what we have seen. some areas over the last couple of days, two, three, four, five inches of rain. it's good, it's been a productive system. in the mountains it has not stopped. snow levels are low, travel up there as we showed you earlier, julie mentioned eastbound 80 closed down. they're going to be problems all night long with 80 and 50. potential avalanche, possibly closuresful we'll update later for you. foster city base solar city has served as a popular backdrop for politicians promoting clean energy job promotion. it is acquiring the residential division on the east coast. the deal makes solar city the

largest residential installer of home systems. the median home price fell to $338,000 last month that is down more than 3% from $350,000 a year ago. still it is better than the 10% drop in december. foreclosures accounted for 40% in october. stocks traded at their highest level in more than two years. the dow gained almost 30 points. the index has been rising steadily this month with only three down days so far. the giants closer is in a pinch. the physical challenge he's facing right now at spring training.

the giants closer is back in the news. and probably something you won't expect. they're up such a tight microscope. >> ordinarily wouldn't even report this story. spring training they are there to work out the kinks but bryan wilson. they don't want to take any chances and he reported a little stiffness in the back today so he was held out of his

scheduled throwing session. stiffness in his back. nothing serious. he could in fact, start throwing again tomorrow. sounds like he just needs a good massage. meantime albert pujols arriving at the cardinals training camp today. as but a huge throng of media on hand about his contract situation. of course negotiations as you heard ended yesterday. the slugger was asked why he wouldn't start negotiating throughout the season in good faith? >> why, because of this. it's a zoo, you know. i don't think my teammates deserve that. >> reporter: meantime the gold state warriors enjoying a nice hot streak as they head into the all star game. ellis should be there. this is something that doesn't happen to your average guy.

griffin look at it closely, goes up for the dunk and is hammered by the back board. most of us probably don't have to worry about that. that's going to leave a mark. and he's not injured i'm happy to report. griffin will be at the all star game as scheduled. probably not real happy with that pass in the alley oop. already just about clenched rookie of the year honors and he's a tough guy too. >> i don't think i've ever seen that happen before. >> poor guy. coming up on bay area news at 7:00 on tv 36. president obama meets with some of the biggest names in silican valley. also more storm coverage. we're in the south bay where it's snowing at the higher elevations. this all coming up in 30 minutes in tv 36. this is our report for tonight. i'm julie haener.

>> and i'm frank somerville. thank you for joining us. have a good evening. >> good night.

( ringing ) you ever figure out what that thing's for? i'm trying this new screening thing. if i'm always answering the phone people think i don't have a life.

my god, rodrigo never gets pinned. joey: here comes the beep. you know what to do. ( beeps ) woman: hello. i'm looking for bob. this is jade. i don't know if you're still at this number but i was just thinking about us and how great it was and i know it's been three years but i was kind of hoping we could hook up again, you know? i barely had the nerve to make this call so you know what i did? what? i got a little drunk... and naked. bob here. ♪ so no one told you life was gonna be this way ♪ ♪ your job's a joke, you're broke ♪ ♪ your love life's d.o.a. ♪ it's like you're always stuck in second gear ♪ ♪ when it hasn't been your day ♪ your week, your month, or even your year ♪