san mateo county sheriff's deputies and the secret service guarded doors to john door's home. as the motorcade pull into the dark wooded driveways, some neighbors say they are excited of the president's visit to the neighborhood. >> i think it's always good for the president to go out to the nation rather than bring people in to the white house. >> reporter: president obama was greeted by lieutenant governor gavin newsom, pamela harris and san francisco mayor ed lee. the president says his focus is to talk about entrepreneurships and jobs with carol barts of

yahoo, john chambers of ciscoe systems and john costelous of twitter. also included mark zucke rburg of facebook. but as the president was wined and dined, protesters were waiting on the motorcade rout. >> we heard president obama was going to be here and he's at the home of john door who makes the smart meters. >> reporter: the president spent three hours here tonight hopeing to get allies to right the u.s. economy. and more details now, the president's stay is going to be a short one. in fact, he's due to take off tomorrow morning at 8:45. next stop on this west coast trip, hillsboro oregon where he's scheduled to visit an intel plant. the winter storm that blasted the area is moving out tonight. it included wind, rain, snow

and hail. crews had to remove a 100-foot tree that fell near the intersection with chelsea drive. the intersection was shut down while crews chopped down the tree. two homes lost power but neighbors were prepared. >> we have our earthquake kit. we have a lot of candles, the power goes out here a lot in the wintertime. >> we're told it could have been worse. the tree missed the main power box for the neighborhood, and an antique car. and in the peninsula 253 people are without power, the east bay there's 70 customers without power. the north bay 37. with temperatures plunging the bay area's highest peaks

have turned white with snow. we caught this imagine up around saratoga. crews have been covering the snowfall all day starting early in the morning with the morning team. debra villalon is tracking the storm. >> reporter: it is wet and slushy and dirty. and you can see the attempted snow men have melted. but in the bay area any snow is a welcomed novelty. caltrans trucks clearing snow, we expected the sierra not the santa cruz mountains. by above s era toga snow has been falling and sticking most of the day. >> it's a big one. >> reporter: time for some schooling in the fine art of snowballs. >> it's bigger. >> i played baseball, but this

is more squishy. >> long time residents say this covering was pretty but no problem, they've seen worse. >> we've been snowed in without power. but days like today, and many other days are really special. makes it all worthwhile. >> reporter: the plunging temperatures are driving homeless indoors. >> it looked like they just jumped out of a ice cold pool. you can see the emptiness, not the coldness from the weather be u you -- from the weather but you can see it soaking into their souls. >> reporter: here a warm meal and pajamas were provided. we found billy coming home from a hawaii vacation, getting home to snow. >> i have so much clothes on right now but this is where we should all be.

>> reporter: i think we'll all check in that. there have not been a lot of people up to this vista point tonight. someone just stopped by and told us that on highway nine on the way back down to saratoga there are power lines that have come down with some tree limbs and are across the road. so we're going to pack it up. go back down the mountain and take a look at that for ourselves and if that amounts to anything we'll bring that to you. debra villalon, ktvu news. today's heavy rain amounted to many traffic problems. as you can see it was pouring, at times it was raining so hard the windshield wipers could barely kind up. problems on the highways keep highway patrol busy. the heaviest rain fell this afternoon. officers were responding to an average of 30 to 40 accidents per hour. this was one of them, i thought

we had an accident here but there were several accidents including one in san leandro that ended up sending one person to the hospital. with weather like this you can expect flight delays at the san francisco airport. some flights are more than two hours late, the situation is much better at maneta, san jose and oakland international. the heaviest rain was this morning right on the commute as we talked about. we got breaking today but there's continuing showers mainly south of fremont. we heard down to the san mateo bridge. you can see rainfalling central span of the san m ateo bridge. you can see rainfalling on 880 as you move down toward milpedas. it's been heavy in the san jose region all afternoon. they received over an inch of

rain in about the last three hours. it's been raining hard but we have more rain. that winter storm warning gets stronger in the mountains. i'll have the details, the latest computer model and your weekend forecast, i'll see you back here. >> caltrain crews in the sierra working to clear snow and keep the freeways open. here's a live look now on interstate 80 in truckee. the snow is covered with snow. we've seen traffic make it's way slowly down the road. chains are required on 80. and visibility was near zero at times east of placerville. we'll have a live report from the sierra with the latest conditions on the road to tahoe. highway 29 to lake county is closed to traáfbg tonight because of snow -- closed to traffic tonight because of

heavy snowfall. >> wind with rain is very dangerous. >> reporter: today at marin county the creeks were running. trees were being chopped and awnings blown away. >> i love the rain. it's the best. >> reporter: come on you love it? >> i love the rain. >> reporter: this winter blast is dumping snow not only in the sierra but in lake and napa counties. snow drenched roadways and spin outs shut down highway 29 between middleton and lake county. >> it just start dumping nonstop just about 20 minutes ago. >> reporter: wright was talking about the creek. in mill valley high tide. everybody was getting wet.

in marin county, mike mibach. our storm watch coverage continues on ktvu.com where you will find live storm tracker two and a slide show of images from today. oakland police have wrapped up their investigation of allegations of sexual conduct at an elementary school. the case we first reported last month. police said they believed there was sexual conduct involving the second graders at marcum elementary school. no criminal charges will be filed and police say they don't think an adult was charged. the teacher denied any knowledge of the incident. pg & e says the cause of the deadly san bruno explosion continues to mount. now pg & e says costs may rise as high as $300 million. this disclosure was included in the company's filings. the company stock fell 44-cents or about 1% this afternoon. the new bay bridge could

open several months ahead of schedule. the major change commuters will have to navigate so that crews can finish early. the mayor of oakland delivers the state of the city address. and a treacherous drive to tahoe. a live report on the slow going and what conditions look like right now.

caltrans is under taking a major deviation to its plans that could allow the bay bridge to be complete before scheduled. temporary eastbound lanes will be built and once those lanes are in use, crews will tear down part of the old bridge and then be able to finish the new eastbound lanes. >> this is a pretty significant engineering effort that we're going to have to do in order to make this a reality. >> if all goes well the project could be finished four to six months ahead of schedule in time for the america's cup. once the weather clear, crews can finish unloading four enormous parts. they will sit on top of the recreptly finished tiers. san jose's major delivers his state of the city address and upbeat it is not. ktvu's lloyd lacuesta live in

san jose this evening where he listened to the speech that was dominated by the city's huge deficit. >> reporter: it's been a dreary day weather wise. and today the mayor of the largest city in the bay area delivered his state of the city address. he said even darker days are ahead. >> let me emphasize there is no more money. the well is dry. >> reporter: mayor chuck reed's fifth state of the city address was his bleakest. with san jose facing a projected budget deficit of $110 million. >> the danger from the deficit has grown like a cancer. >> reporter: the mayor says san jose's largest cost are for police and fire pensions. and will take significant concessions to avoid lay offs. at its worse, $349 could lose their jobs. >> the less officers you have in a city of a million, the harder it's going to be for us to get to handle those calls for service when people call. >> reporter: last year, san

jose cut 800 city jobs. this year the mayor wants all city workers to take 10% pay cuts. >> not all employees are created equal. we represent employees in this city that are the lowest paid workers in san jose. >> reporter: besides possible lay offs the mayor wants to increase retirement ages for city workers to receive full benefits. eliminate the city's guaranteed pension raises. and end so called retirement bonus checks. >> i am sorry to have to write this unpleasant prescription. but this is our new reality and no one can be shielded from it. it's time to take our medicine and undergo some painful treatment. >> reporter: the mayor says he is open to alternatives. all union contracts are up for negotiations this year. a walnut creek police

detective is facing allegations of having sex with a teenage girl he met while investigating her sexual assault case. sean wallis seen here resigned earlier this month after being questioned about his relationship with the girl. wallis was arrested on charges of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor. today his attorney told rita williams that wallis was trying to help the girl. >> this girl that is 17 years old who is still living with him tells us that there's no violation of power.

and -- they have been reinstated. their suspension was effective immediately. lawrence livermore national lab is having problems tracking illicit drugs from their inventory. the lab has samples of 44 drugs ranging from black tar heroin to steroids. it uses them in bio medical research and to support law enforcement. a state posted on the lab's website says it is now in compliance with the state's regulations. and mark garcia -- the unnamed witness was expected to say that drugs were involved but recanted his earlier statements. the motive presented at the trial concerned a love triangle

between garcia, aquille and a woman. reporter lewis has been in placer county for most of the night, where the snow continues to fall. >> reporter: gasia, the snow just keeps coming down. take a look at this huge mountain that was just recently plowed. as tire road conditions are not too good tonight. these semis are calling it a night because it's just to treacherous to continue. these are picture that is move it's going to be a long holiday weekend. the snowstorm seems to have no end in sight. >> road conditions are down to one lane. a lot of ice. >> we were hung up for three hours and 45 minutes. >> reporter: from stuck semis. >> i've been 26 hours here. >> to spin out. >> it's been a challenge to say

the least. >> i'll go give them a call and i'll let you know. >> reporter: highway patrol says they've been busy thanks to drivers going too fast in bad conditions. >> they've not coming prepared. they're driving to fast. >> reporter: apple gate was shut down allowing cal crews time to clear. >> reporter: what advice do you have for people driving up for the weekend. >> just slow down, play it safe. >> we're heading up for the weekend. >> reporter: if you are heading up here this weekend you want to make sure you have some blanket, some fuel, because you just don't know how long it's going to take for you to get to your destination. and the winter storm warning still in effect till tomorrow up in the lake tahoe

area. we have showers right now in milpedas. it's been dry in the north bay for a while. overnight lows are going to be clear. here is what you're going to note -- notice when you wake up. clear for most of us. you're going to look over at diablo you're going to see snow. we have snow up on highway 17. this cold weather system moving down tonight. it will linger a bit tomorrow and some of this moisture will wrap around. it's not a big deal. not a big deal in terms of precipitation. but we have to put some showers in for your friday. snow continues in the mountains, the latest computer models back here in a few minutes. viewers have been busy all day sending us pictures of their severe weather in their neighborhood. i want to show you one picture that was submitted by joshua

anchors barry. if you have pictures to share we would like to see them. we might put them on the air. two regimes toppled. today fierce unrest in another mideast city, the domino effect that might already be in effect in the arab world. stopping the cycle of violence. our camera gets an up close look at what's being done to keep parolees from going back to prison.

the unrest in the middle east is spreading to other countries. these pictures are from yemen today where protesters clashed with government supporters. while the protest may not be as bad as what we saw in egypt. the pictures emerging in some cases almost seem identical. it may take more than 18 days

in egypt to bring about change. >> reporter: it's not surprising some of the most repressive regimes now are the most heavy handed with anti government protesters trying to oust them. in bahrain the government went after protesters killing five people. now a protest in algeria, syria, libya and bahrain. >> we might see what went on in central -- >> people have a fear of what's

going to happen if the regime leaves. >> reporter: he was talking about his mother land. the poorest country where his mother and seven sisters remain. today about 6,000 protesters marched in the capital there to oust the president who has promised neither he or his son will run in 2013. >> i don't think the regime is going to change. i think reform is going to happen, it must happen. >> reporter: and people are dying there for that to happen. rita williams, ktvu channel 2 news. an east bay congresswoman barbara lee took steps today to end the war in afghanistan. they said the war has gone on too long more than a decade and cost too many lives. more than 40 others in the house have signed on to support the bill. the army today began it's training program to start the don't ask don't tell.

training is expected to take the longest and be done by midsummer. governor jerry brown has a huge surplus on his hands. not in the budget but from his inauguration event. he received $400,000 in doe nays. once all nays -- in donations. whatever is left is going to be donated.

one year after a plane crashed into a palo alto neighborhood, ktvu has arrived video of the first responders arriving at the scene. these are images you will see only on 2. >> police said the low fog made it difficult at first to see the wreckage and how bad it was and what happened to homes and people on the grown. quickly it was clear, it was bad. neighbors had to be kept away from burning homes as firefighters tried to put out flames. three people on board the plane died but no one on the ground was hurt. police are investigating the alleged sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl on her way to school. oakland police say a 50-year- old man approached the girl at

about 8:00 this morning on the intersection of 98 avenue and walnut street in east oakland. he took her to his home near by and then sexually assaulted her. -- the girl -- [audio difficulties ] >> williams and another man grabbed a woman on ilene street in north oakland on february 5th. she escaped the next day when the men fell asleep. wilson was arrested last week you may call it oakland's version of scared straight. a ktvu crew got the first look at a program that targets young men and warns them of the consequences if they repeatedly end up on the wrong side of the law. rob roth shows us how it works and why it's making believers out of some of those involved.

>> inside oakland city hall in this nondescript hearing room, law enforcement officials are offering one last chance for ten young men to turn away from violence. they say this could be the last exit from their road to violence. this is the first time a television camera has recorded what authorities call a call in. various young men are called into this program, many of the men are from violence plagued west oakland or are on parol or probation. we agreed not to show their faces. the program is part carrot and part stick. >> you can stop the violence in your community. >> reporter: first the stick, police, prosecutors and agents

warn the teenagers of what their future could be. kevin grant is the speaker today, he asked a young men to imagine themselves being led into a courtroom in handcuffs. >> you walk in the back pin door, and you walk in and snap, that's what it's going to look like. look. while it's free. can you whip that. >> the young men are then offered the carrot in an array of programs. police say four were rearrested and are now in prison. >> if you don't accept it and you're still involved in violence you get the full wrath of the criminal justice system. >> law enforcement knows we

cannot arrest and prosecute our way out of the problems that face oakland. this is an alternative way to try to address the violence that we all know and read about in the paper every day. >> reporter: another believer in the program is this 23-year- old waiter at home of chicken and waffles on oakland's embarcadero. after spending eight months in jail, joshua was invited to the very first call in in 2009. >> it's an intimidating experience but it gives you an idea of how serious they are. talking to das and they're talk about zero tolerance, zero tolerance, no, no, no. it makes you see how serious they are. >> reporter: he is now a waiter at this restaurant, the owner is a frequent attendee at the

call ins. >> the young men that come in that's involved in this program don't go back out and commit violent crimes in the city of oakland. and i believe that it's working. >> reporter: oakland has a federal grant to help run the program. enough money to keep it going for at least the next three years. in oakland, rob roth, ktvu channel 2 news. on wall street a strong manufacturing report overshadowed unemployment claims and stocks closed higher. the dow continued it's strong month gaining 29 points, the nasdaq six. 410,000 out of work americans filed claims for the first time. that is an increase of 25,000 from the previous week. economists were expected to see about 400,000 new claims. a drop in home prices could be spurring sales in the bay

area. the median home price went down to 338,000 last month compared to january of 2010. sales across the region were up more than 2% with foreclosures accounting for about 1/3 of all sales. the median price in san mateo was $405,000. virgin american said it would start flighting from o'hare to sfo. there will be liquidation sales at the border stores. last night we reported 12 stores will be closing here in the bay area as part of the

company's bankruptcy plan. the city says six stores have been warned. but now face a lawsuit. a crack down tonight targeting the stores for what they sell. live storm tracker two still has some green on it and there's also snowfalling on bay area hills. we'll have the latest computer models for your friday, see you back here. this is a protest, even if it looks like a party. what this large crowd is calling for.

san francisco city attorney is suing six smoke shops alleging they are threatening the public health of neighborhoods by selling drug paraphernalia. authorities showed photos of the pipe, glass tubes and scrubbers that police found at

the store. the lawsuit accuses the shops of maintaining a public nuisance and violating the state health and safety code. a second man suspected of swindle customers at a san francisco funeral home pled not guilty today. today donald rollins denied he took prepayments for the company and used them wrongfully. a boat carrying tourists in a bay near sonora sank today leaving four people dead. two are americans and at least one was from colorado. the survivors said it went down in one minute. the boat was equipped with cabins and most on board were sleeping at the time. 15 others survived and were rescued by other tour boats. clashes erupted today

between protesters and police. it began as a demonstration against police brutality. in belgium, thousands of people took to the streets today to push their leaders to finally form a government. this wasn't a protest but more of a party. belgium has been without a central government for 249 days and that maybe a world record. the election resulted in a dead lock between the nation's french and belgium speakers. and residents are asking police to investigate phantom calls. now police want the fcc to figure out why it went haywire and keep it from happening again. an oakland man credited for saving the life of an abused

dog was honored today. vince faucet secretly video taped his neighbor beating his pit bull. the video led to the dog owners arrest and conviction. the pit bull has been adopted. >> there's violence associated with oakland. if we want to change, it's going to take residents to step up. take a look at these colorful hand meat floats. we'll bring you a preview of saturday's chinese parade. and our chief meteorologist bill martin is continuing to track showers, the complete forecast in just a few minutes.

at this hour, people are

busy putting the last flourishing on all those floats that will be featured in this saturday's chinese new year parade in san francisco. amber lee joins us to tell us why this year's parade won't be like last year's, amber. >> reporter: gasia, we're at pier 27 where workers have been busy putting on finishing touches on dozens of floats. tonight we went behind the scenes to bring you a preview of saturday's parade. styrofoam, glitter and wood, all the makings of the chinese new year parade. new floats are made every year. >> push the button and hold your ear. >> reporter: these remote control fire crackers are a new gadget he found just eight days ago in a china town's store. the 50-foot long creation named every chinese features

characters made of carved styrofoam. >> some of these characters made just eight days ago. some still have paint drying on them. >> reporter: what kind of reaction do you want? >> i just want their jaws to drop. that's all. >> reporter: carmen chu, a chinese american will also be in the parade. >> it's a proud moment to showcase and share with the community a big celebration. chinese new year is a very important time in my family and always has been. >> reporter: back here live, crews plan to test the electronics on these floats tomorrow. workers will move the floats out of this warehouse to the start of the parade route by noon on saturday. amber lee, ktvu channel 2 news.

and as always you can watch saturday's parade live on ktvu channel 2, our coverage begins at 6:00 p.m. chief meteorologist bill martin will be here in two minutes to tell us if we should expect rain on the parade. honda is recalling 690,000 sub compacts sold. the recall involves 900,002,005 fits. the springs may bend or break over time and that could result in engines stalling. no crashes or injuries have been reported from the defect. recall notices will start going out next month. a group of car dealers who lost their businesses in chrysler's 2009 bankruptcy are suing the government. 64 former dealers claim their franchises were closed without adequate compensation. the lawsuit puts the damage at $130 million. the treasury department

declined to comment on the lawsuit. chrysler closed 789 auto dealerships in june of 2005. facebook has now added civil unions and domestic partnerships to the list of relationships that users can pick from. the new options are only available in the u.s., canada, the united kingdom, france and australia. scientists say the biggest solar flair in four years is causing radio disruptions but not major. nasa recorded these images. x-rays from the flair are now passing the earth. you might see a light show in the northern sky by all the energy created by the solar flairs. it'll be clear skies out there. they are in santa rosa right now. in the north bay showers still in the south bay. they've been getting hit which is good. i have to tell you san jose's

rainfall percents of average was down in the 50 percentile. everybody else is down 80 or 90%. that is going to put them back in the 70% of rainfall average. showers right now in evergreen, it's winding down. tomorrow morning when you wake up it's going to be beautiful, it's going to be clear, it's going to be cool and it's going to be pretty. turn on to mornings on two and steve will be here. they've be pointing live cameras at mount diablo it'll be one of those mornings. we have snow on skyline boulevard. snow on 17, probably snow on the backside of tam. you know the morning it'll be friday morning, beautiful, cool and you're going to see lots of white on bay area snow tops. you're going to see lots of white in the foot hits. here's a system as it blows through. it sticking in the mountains, that winter storm warning there stays in effect through tomorrow into tomorrow. lake tahoe getting another foot of snow overnight. they're chaining up and i would not be driving up there the

next 24 to 36 hours if i didn't have chains in my possession or four wheel drive or check the road conditions. president's day weekend and the weather, the next couple of days not that great. so here we go, friday at 12:00 a.m. tomorrow or midnight, you see showers in the area. i'm looking for tomorrow morning's commute. looks pretty dry doesn't it. this is what's weird, look what happened. here we are 6:00 a.m., looks good on friday. few sprinkles in san jose. watch the moisture start to come back around. this isn't the way they usually roll. you believely everything goes out and this way. the lows drop down, the flow around the low is going to give us some back wash. some of this moisture is going to wrap around out to fresno. maybe some sprinkles in livermore. you see it pulling back into the area. none of this will be a big deal, just sprinkles and showers. light showers in your bay area forecast. some meteorologists are suggesting a chance of light showers in the afternoon as

well. we'll watch that for you. chinese new year parade is right here on channel 2. it looks like as often we do, we might have a few sprinkles on saturday. stay tuned for that. the five day forecast looks just like this. we have a little bit of sprinkle activity but tomorrow is going to be stung. with the big hd i know what they're doing, they're going to be shooting at the hamilton. visibility crisp and clear, visibility down to 1,000 feet. >> love those mornings. the big wave hitting the coast. heightened concerned about some apartments on a crumbling cliff. the cliff is being protected by a barrier, a sand bar created by shifting sand offshore. the sand eroded off the cliffs just to the north along esplenade avenue. >> the sand bars are actually breaking the waves before they

even get to the shore. >> protecting the cliffs. >> reporter: protects the cliffs exactly. >> a lawsuit has stalled work on one section of repair work along the cliff. but a multi million dollars sea wall and wall cliff protector could be finished before next winter. it's an important relic to roman catholics. now a bone from st. mary madlaious can be seen here in the bay area.

an ancient relic cherished by members of the roman catholic church is in berkeley tonight. it's said to be the jawbone of mary magdaline. we expect you to win, wake us up when the play offs start. after a little bit of a slow start, you can say they are now meeting full expectation. first period they are going at it shorthanded in this situation. patty marlow open wide, not any better than him. and we've got 1-0 san jose. but into the third, tied 1-1

are the capitals. ryan cole with great leg work in front. you have to see that again. kind of easy to miss the first time around. great work, replayed 2-1. now the power play situation. sharks have gone five games without scoring on the power play. and they break it zero for 12. well the stanford's men basketball team is ever going to get with the program, you know like the women's program they'll have to do a whole lot better defending their home floor against conference opponents. now just a so, so 4-4 situation. tyler honeycut is turning threes. stanford tried to put it down but joshua smith to block it. they go quickly to the other end. reeves nelson who led them with 18 to put it down.

stanford's jeremy green 37 in a losing effort. close is the best cal can do. they lose their four straight down by as much as 11 in the second half. they do end up in the short end. right now the usf basketball program is at least promising. still tied with the zags for second place. and providing the only local win on the hardwood tonight as a matter of fact they were up in portland and it's caliaro with the steal. he will lay it in on the other end. he had 18 points. usf up by half and they would not relinquish that lead. also at 18 it's mickey williams, he will put it down 87-23. and they are your only local winners. we say santa clara gets whooped by gonzaga. remember what happened the first time those two teams met. the broncos won it. in the one hand it's nice

to have a story regarding the giants that doesn't regard around someone's facial hair or women's underwear. ordinarily this wouldn't be a story. but anything these guys do deep in the honey moon stage is going to be on the forefront. but brian wilson had a stiff back and did not practice. actually sounds like he just needed a back massage. >> and that's our report for tonight. check in with our early morning team. they will have the latest on the weather and commute. i'm gasia mikaelian. >> and i'm frank somerville. the interview afterwards.

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