a vicious beating early this morning left one man with serious injuries. we have exclusive video as police take action. >> reporter: i'm tara moriarty live at the golden gate bridge where something is being done on this span that has never happened before. we'll tell you what it is and how it may impact cyclists when the morning news continues. good morning to you. welcome to wednesday. it's february 23rd. i'm dave clark. good morning. i'm pam cook. start with steve paulson for a look at weather. steven, how does it look? pamela, dave, good morning. we have partically cloudy skies. clouds increasing not as nice as yesterday when we had wall to wall sunshine. it will not be the case today. low 60s yesterday. we shave those off about three, four, maybe five degrees in advance of a very cold system which will be here on thursday. highs today in the mid-50s. here's sal. right now on 280 northbound coming up into the valley looks

pretty good getting up to highway 17. and if you're driving on the grade any time soon, interstate 680 from pleasanton to fremont looks good. 6:01. back to the desk. sal, thank you. new this morning oakland police on the scene of a violent overnight attack. the victim, a man in his 50s. ktvu's claudine wong is live there with new information and some exclusive video. claudine. >> reporter: well, a lot happening. the investigator actually just left the scene. i want to show you what's happening over here on 84th and international. that's the bike we've been looking at this morning. we've just been told by police it may not actually be involved in this violent assault this morning. that's because neighbors are now telling police that that bike was here before all this happened. they are taking it away just making sure they cover the possibility that may be involved. again, at this point it's unclear. the tow truck also now on scene towing this truck that right now police believe did belong

to the victim, 50-year-old man -- or man in his 50s a hispanic man found severely beaten. he's in critical condition at the hospital right now. and there is one suspect in custody. we want to show you that video. this is void owe of the man taken into custody just a couple hours ago. at that time that man did not want to talk to me. he said he just didn't want to be on tv. what i've learned from police is that he is from oakland. he's an adult man. as far as that and his name they would not release his name yet. again, take you through what they think happened or at least what they know happened. they know that witnesses called in to police about 2:30 this morning saying a man was being beaten violently by what we're now told is four people. we don't know why. we don't know what led up to it. but we do know this man suffered severe internal injuries and external injuries. we were told by police on scene that he actually may have been stomped on and his head may have been smashed against the pavement.

this point so many questions the investigator told me before he left he's still going to try to piece all of it together but at this hour the scene is about to be cleared, the tow truck is going to take away that truck. and they're going to open this road back up again. so a lot of questions still outstanding where the story continues to develop out here in oakland. live in oakland, claudine wong, ktvu channel 2 news. the mt. diablo school board has voted unanimously not to close any additional schools. at a packed meeting last night, parents, students and teachers learned that silverwood and westwood elementary schools will be spared. the board made its decision after hearing recommendations from the superintendent. but the school board president warns this may only be a temporary fix. >> now, if the tax measures don't pass at the state level, we may be right back where we're at right now. and maybe even worse. >> the superintendent's money saving suggestions include moving special education students to one of the recently closed campuses.

and redrawing boundaries to reduce transportation costs. the board already voted to close hol brook elementary and glen brook middle school to save $1.5 million a year. in san jose, a child playing with matches is being blamed for a fire that displaced more than two dozen people overnight. that fire was reported at 8:00 last night. there was also a gas leak in the building which made it even harder to fight the flames. at least 25 people now have to find another place to live. one woman suffered smoke inhalation and some burns to her hands. time now 6:05. in new zealand the continuing desperate search for survivors of the big earthquake in christ church. the mayor of christ church says 120 people have been rescued in just the last 12 hours. and more bodies were found. 75 people are now confirmed dead but about 300 more are still missing. friends and family members have gathered in the park.

they're supporting each other and waiting for news. >> no one able to say anything at this stage. so we just waiting and hoping. >> the dogs have gone in now. that's what we're hoping the dogs will find. >> she's a dog lover. >> the rescue teams are using thermal cameras and special search dogs to try to find survivors. in some cases the trapped people have been able to call or even text from their cell phones. well, major renovations on the golden gate bridge will soon get underway. drivers may be distracted, but as ktvu's tara moriarty tells us, bicyclists will probably be the first effected. tara. >> reporter: well, that's right. we'll explain why in just a minute. but first if you've lived in the bay area for any amount of time, you've probably seen golden gate bridge workers paint the towers at some point that famous orange color. they've never redone the cables. if you take a look behind me

you can see what i'm talking about. the two huge cables that stretch to the top of the tower and support the bridge. this project has never been done before in the bridge's 70 year history. now if you drive across the bridge as pam mentioned each morning, this project will probably not impact your commute. but if you're a cyclist, different story. you're going to have less wiggle room starting today. crews are erecting scaffolding that just arrived this morning that will narrow the bike only sidewalk from ten feet to seven feet. this means a lot of cyclists may have to walk their bikes across. over the next six months the golden gate bridge workers will put up the scaffolding along a chunk from the middle of the span south towards san francisco. they'll be cleaning the exterior of the cable, roughing it up, sanding it so a new sealing paint can be applied. this will all happen underneath a tarp in order to keep lead paint chips from spreading. this entire project should take three years. and we've been trying to speak to some cyclists this morning, but obviously it's pretty

early. we've seen three of them go by this morning, but they were going so fast that we couldn't stop them in time. we will be trying to speak to some cyclist this is morning as well as someone from the golden gate bridge district. live at the golden gate bridge, tara moriarty, ktvu channel 2 news. all right. time now 6:07. sal, can you help everybody get to where they need to go this morning? i think i can. we starting off very nicely this morning, dave and pam. not a bad commute at all. as a matter of fact we're looking at the livermore valley. i hit refresh to see what the road sensors are doing and there's a little bit of slowing on 580 coming in to livermore. 680 from san ramon heading down to pleasanton looks good. and 580 also in good shape over to castro valley. union city and fremont looking good with a little slow traffic on the dumbarton bridge. that bridge is clear and so is the san mateo. highway 4 coming up to the willow pass grade a nice looking drive from the antioch area though already some stop and go traffic but okay in

pittsburgh and bay point and also concord on the way to 680. at the bay bridge toll plaza another ten minutes and that's when they usually turn on the metering lights. no problems on the bridge getting into the city. 6:08. let's go to steve. sal, thank you. we had a beautiful day yesterday. and today will be kind of our between. we're getting the clouds on the increase in advance of that very cold system which is to the north. so it will not be as nice and will be cooler today. tomorrow's really when thinkings start to kick in. colder gear so to speak. cloudy and colder tomorrow. afternoon rain looks likely. and then late thursday morning, likely friday. friday's the main day cloudy and colder and rain and very low snow levels likely across the board. already an advisory out for snow. i'll get to that in a second. you can see where the clouds are increasing. everything's being pushed down and also from the west being drawn in. moisture from the system to the west and everything's coming together here for what looks to be -- these usually aren't high

precipitation producers. these kind of environments. usually not. it could happen, but the cold air is really the big story so far. a winter storm watch is out for the north bay hills. yes, the north bay hills. for snow near 1,000 feet or below. that will be thursday evening. okay. not today, tomorrow. so we can fine tune this as we get closer toyota. national weather service in monterey already said winter storm watch for the north bay hills. they thought about putting it toward the valley floor. they're holding off on that for now until things come together. sierra snow on the go. key is jet stream will be perpendicular to the mountains. you're getting a very cold dynamic jet and this can produce a lot of powder. one to two feet. this is more utah snow or colorado snow. snow ratio will be off the chart. a period of time friday evening but thursday night into friday night is when the winter storm watch. a warning means it's happening. a watch means we think it's going to happen and it will. 30s on the temperatures. 33 santa rosa the coldest.

30s or 40s. san francisco forecast sun and clouds but cooler. high yesterday 56. go 54 today and then really cool down. you can see low clouds streaming down the coast as the cold air rides over the relatively warmer water and higher clouds coming in from the west. those are associated with this right here. look out see right there? the low's up here starting to draw in that cloud cover and bring it over. clouds increasing today. cooler, cloudy to the north. little more sun to the south. highs in the 50s. and i could have put 55 in there. and, remember, we have a three degree guarantee. as long as i'm within three degrees that's a hit. santa rosa 54. 54 vallejo. 56 concord. 57 antioch and brentwood. i'll go 58 gill roy the warmest. tomorrow we cloud it up. the rain starts in the evening and then friday will be really the important day, the interesting day. colder, low snow levels into saturday. gone saturday night and brisk and breezy on sunday. oh, boy. in libya this morning anti-

government protesters are defiant despite gadafi's warning. what the united states government is doing now to help americans caught in the mayhem. also apple shareholders meet today. expect a lot of talk about something the company has been very reluctant to talk about in the past.

well, good morning to you. welcome back. time now 6:14.

right now americans living in libya are evacuating. ktvu's allison burns is in our washington d.c. newsroom with the very latest from the state department in their updates. good morning, allison. >> reporter: dave, there are about 600 american citizens in libya. we got the last update from the state department just about two hours ago. it said americans were boarding a ferry to malta and there were still seats available. fears of a civil war are growing in libya as the standoff between demonstrators and gadafi's security forces is now in its ninth day. overnight there were more reports of gunshots and fires. today there are reports people are afraid they'll be shot if they leave their homes. gadafi is vowing to hold onto power or die a martyr. secretary of state hillary clinton is condemning the violence but stopping short of calling for gadafi to step down. >> this bloodshed is completely unacceptable. >> reporter: now meanwhile the unrest in the region is

prompting a surge in oil prices. and this morning time magazine quotes a source close to the libya government who says gadafi's next move will likely be to sabotage oil pipelines to create more chaos as he struggles to hold onto power. reporting live from washington d.c., allison burns, ktvu channel 2 news. time now 6:15. senate majority leader harry reed will introduce legislation next week aimed at avoiding a government shut down. now his bill would keep the government running at current spending levels if as expected democrats and republicans can't work out an agreement on the spending bill for the current fiscal year by the march 4 deadline. although a short-term extension bill is not new, it's being rejected by republican leaders who object to freezing spending at what they call inflated levels. well, this morning president obama is congratulating his former chief of staff on a major victory.

rahm emanuel is now the major of chicago. he needed more than 50 votes to avoid a runoff and he got it. overnight the president said the win is well-deserved. he worked in the white house since the beginning of the obama administration. he resigned in october to run for mayor of chicago. later today the san jose police officer's association will give an update on contract negotiations. the city of san jose is facing a $110 million budget deficit. major chuck reed is calling for 10% pay cuts from eleven unions to help avoid layoffs and cuts to city services. also tonight, san jose's new top cop will be sworn in. last night the city council unanimously approved the city manager's choice of chris moore to take over as the police chief. moore has been serving as acting chief since october when former chief rob davis stepped down. the san jose police

department's horse unit may become the latest victim of budget cuts. san jose mercury news reports $280,000 in donations are needed to save the mounted patrol unit. without the money, it could be eliminated in june. the horse unit is responsible for patrolling the downtown area, parks and provides crowd control at special events. and later today san francisco district attorney george gas cone will announce changes in his office. he will talk about restructuring efforts aimed at improving effectiveness, maximizing resources and increeding public safety. he took office last month after 18 months of serving as the city's police chief. time now 6:18. in just a couple hours, apple will begin its annual shareholders meeting with the board and stockholders reportedly on opposite sides of a very key question. shareholders have introduced an agenda item that would require the company to make public its plan of success. as you know steve jobs' third

medical leave of absence in seven years has sparked a lot of questions about what apple will do when he is no longer its leader. actress lindsay -- all right. well, actress lindsay lohan is due back in a los angeles courtroom later today. we'll tell you more about some of the accusations she's accused of being involved in a crime. we'll tell you more about that later. absolutely. right now let's go to sal for a look at traffic this morning. sal. all right. pam and dave, good morning to you. right now traffic is doing pretty well around the bay area. and the morning commute is going to be okay on 280 northbound getting up to highway 17 that's a nice looking drive. in the south bay we have a pretty good looking freeway system now. 280, 85, 101, now if you beg to differ if you ever hear me saying stuff that you think is incorrect, just drop an e-mail. we use your information all the time. sometimes our viewers are our best source. this is a look at 237. this is a look at the westbound bay bridge. that traffic is moving along

well. so according to chp anyway, we're pretty clear on the bridges and causeways right now. 6:19. let's go to steve. sal, thank you, sir. well, partly cloudy today. cooler. not as nice as yesterday. but tomorrow's when we really get some interesting weather around here in the form of a lot of clouds. they're starting to move in right now. could be a few light showers developing even by tomorrow. but today mainly increasing clouds and cooler. winter storm watch is already posted for the north bay hills for tomorrow. that starts thursday afternoon and evening. and snow level could get down to the valley floor and maybe even at sea level as we head towards friday. so at or near 1,000 feet that will be for thursday not today. 30s and 40s for your temperatures right now. one low goes down past l.a. says i'm on my way to coo bo.

the really cold system starts to arrive tomorrow and takes us into friday. cooler today, cloudy to the north. some sun to the south. but not a lot. mainly a cloudy day with clouds starting to work their way in and 50s for temps. a couple 60s yesterday. santa rosa, redwood city, concord, morganhill all hit 60 yesterday. cloudy, rain moves in on thursday and then a cold rain and very low snow levels thursday night into friday. lingering snow saturday morning and then it's gone. sunday looks great but it will be brisk and breezy. all right. thank you, steve for the warning. delta airlines is the last of the major u.s. airlines to raise prices. american raised fares between $20 and $60 for tickets bought on short notice as well as in business and first class earlier this week. united, continental and u.s. airways matched that on monday. now even if one major airline refuses to go along, the other airlines usually back off which is what happened last week. this is the third time this month though that airlines have tried to raise fares. in about an hour the national association of realtors will release its report on existing home sales. most analysts believe january

sales were down from december mostly because of bad weather across much of the country. time now 6:21. a booming business for crab fishermen. last year they exported 4600- tons of crabs to china. that is 20 times as much as the year before. seems the growing chinese middle class has developed a taste for live crabs from the bay area. we're told that's worth almost $2 million for bay area fishermen. zoo workers conduct a unique drill to practice what to do if a tiger escapes. but they did it without getting any animals involved. we have video to show you. also two bay area neighborhoods number one in the whole country for car thefts. where they are and what police say you can do to avoid becoming a victim. good morning. highway 4 heading out to concord looks pretty good so far. but there is some slow traffic here. we'll tell you more about the morning commute straight ahead.

good morning. right now traffic is moving along pretty well on the golden gate bridge. san mateo bridge and bay bridge. on the richmond bridge traffic is looking good. now as we're looking at the golden gate bridge, traffic there is moving along very

nicely. ktvu's tara moriarty is at vista point this morning. she's going to tell us about what work will start today on the golden gate bridge that will go on for years. you will definitely notice it. that's straight ahead. well, a safety drill at a zoo in japan ended up looking more like a comedy skit. it was a practice drill for what to do if a tiger escapes. since it's hard to get a real tiger to cooperate in something like this, they put a man in a tiger suit. they went all the way through the motions of shooting him with a tranquilizer dart and actually bringing him down. our time is now 6:26. two bay area neighborhoods have made a nationwide top ten list now of places where cars are most likely to be stolen. now according to the research group neighborhood scout, there's a one in seven chance a car will be stolen in west oakland. the second bay area neighborhood to make the list is in north san jose.

>> i've had my car broken into once. stole my ipod. so, yeah, we've had incidents here. >> i've been living here like 19 and 20 years. none of my cars have been stolen. >> police say number one reason for car thefts police leave their cars running and unattended. the tragic drowning of two east bay teenagers has many wondering how such a thing could happen. the horrifying new details on that rafting accident. plus new details coming in about a brutal assault on the streets of oakland. just hours ago we have exclusive information about the attack and the police search for suspects. and we take you live to new york this morning where the opening bell is about ready to ring. there are plenty of local stocks to keep an eye on.

adam: we need a good night's sleep. kim: which means a little heat to keep us warm. and a good dose of support for my back. some over the top comfort couldn't hurt. and our perfect dream factory's been built. i'm feeling sleepy already. nighty night.

welcome back to the morning news. we are just getting ready to ring the opening bell in new york this morning. evans bank corp. on the new york stock exchange. local company on the lower part of the screen. ringing the nasdaq this morning. they're visiting their ceo ringing the bell. they're involved in semi- conductors, consumer electronics, networking. a lot of things. there's the opening bell live. we have a lot of other local companies to keep an eye on as well. hewlett pack hard, apple. some big ones too. we'll smile and say good morning to you. thank you for joining us here on the ktvu morning news. middle of the week wednesday february 23rd. i'm dave clark. good morning. i'm pam cook. time now 6:30. new for you this morning police in oakland still very busy still at the scene of a violent overnight attack. police officers arrested one suspect at 81st and

international about 2:30 this morning. a ktvu received this exclusive video. we were there as this arrest taking place. police say this suspect is one of three men suspected of viciously beating and robbing a man in his 50s. that victim was very badly hurt. police are still trying to determine a motive here. ktvu's claudine wong is talking to investigators as we speak. she'll give us a live update coming up on mornings on 2. palo alto police are warning people about a rise in car burglaries in certain areas. police say thieves have been targeting cars parked in the stanford shopping center and along the el camino corridor. the spike in burglaries happened over the last two months. police say cars that have gps units and other electronics in plain view are most likely to be targeted.

san francisco police say a man posing as a good samaritan was actually a robber. another man came up to the victim and said he'd call police but then stole the man's phone. both thieves beat the victim before running away. the man suspected of stealing the phone was later caught by police. time now 6:31. a study on tasers for san francisco police officers may be approved by the police commission today. chief has been asked to give tasers to his officers after three recent officer-involved shootings. last year a similar taser proposal was rejected. this time around four of the seven police commissioners have indicated they're open to a closely monitored pilot program. the long awaited ruling could come today on oakland's proposed gang crackdown in the fruit vale neighborhood. a judge is deciding whether to prevent suspected gang members from hanging out together in an area well-known for crime. this controversial idea also

calls for a 10:00 p.m. curfew. oakland city attorney says a similar plan has already cut the gang violence in the northern part of oakland. but then there are critics who say this plan is an attack on civil rights and promotes racial profiling. jury selections expected to begin today in the trial of a san mateo teenager accused of setting off pipe bombs at his former high school. the trial's moving ahead after doctors told a judge last week that alex was sane during that incident in 2009. he previously had entered anin sanity plea. the former hillsdale high school student is facing several charges including attempted murder. no one was injured in that attack. we're now learning the horrifying details of the deaths of two teenagers from walnut creek. 17-year-old gavin powell and 16- year-old matthew miller drowned when they tried to raft down a canal filled with debris during saturday's storm. the shallow stream may have appeared to be safe, but

investigators say the two teenagers were immediately caught in the fast moving waters and pulled into an underground tunnel beneath downtown walnut creek. now this is not the first deadly tragedy for this dangerous stretch of waterway. ten months ago a helicopter crew came to the rescue of a 75- year-old woman from walnut creek. a car driven by her son had crashed through two fences and landed upside down in that rushing water. she survived but her husband and adult son both died. and three teenagers who went into the creek drowned in two separate instances 20 years apart. one of those incidents took place in the early 70s. the other in the early 90s. meantime the family and friends of those two teenagers who drowned just last weekend will be holding a candle light vigil tonight. it starts at 6:00 p.m. at the shell ridge open space in walnut creek. that's an area where matthew miller and gavin powell often hiked. and many of those attending tonight's vigil are classmates.

grief counselors were on the campus yesterday when the students came back to class after the long president's day weekend. renovations on the golden gate bridge will get underway soon. ktvu's tara moriarty tells us what is being done and what it means for visitors. tara. >> reporter: the commute should be picking up here in about a half an hour. if you take a look behind me you can see four lanes southbound open into san francisco. this new project should not be a big deal for drivers, but for cyclists a different story. they're going to have less wiggle room starting today. now crews are erecting scaffolding that just arrived this morning which will narrow the bike only sidewalk on the ocean side of the span from ten feet down to seven feet. this means a lot of bicyclists may have to walk their bikes across. here's what's happening. something that's never been done before in the span's 70 year history. golden gate bridge workers are cleaning up the exterior of the

cables. they're going to be scraping them up so a new sealing paint can be applied. this will all happen underneath a tarp in order to keep lead paint chips from spreading. the first phase of the project will take place along a chunk from the middle of the span south towards san francisco and will take six months to complete. just to give you an idea back here live of how big of a scope this project is, each cable is about three feet in diameter. that's the distance from here to here. it's quite a big project. and each cable is comprised of more than 27,000 individual gaffe newsed steel wires. the entire project will take three years to complete. live at the golden gate bridge, i'm tara moriarty, ktvu channel 2 news. all right. you know as you're getting for work and go aheading ready to go out the door we want you to know that ktvu's newscast is streaming live online right now. >> that's pretty exciting. you can tune in at work, on the go, sal, people are sitting at their computer. a lot of people get their news

from their computer. so we are there for you. or bart whatever they're doing. >> and people from all over the country have e-mailed us people who used to live here and want to watch channel 2 news. >> that's exiting. >> so if you're traveling just be aware of the time difference watch us here. good morning everyone. traffic here is doing well around the bay area. at the bay bridge we have a bit of a delay. backed up for about a five minute wait. no problems on that span getting into san francisco and all the spans we've checked the san mateo and dumbarton bridge moving nicely over to highway 101 for the other side. you can see traffic is moving along very nicely. this morning in the livermore valley traffic is moving well. there's a little bit of slow traffic coming in over the pass. san ramon northbound 680 a bit of slowing but southbound looks good. and 580 looks good over to castro valley. hayward and union city right

now the road sensors not picking up a lot of slow traffic just yet. so if you want to dash out and get the freeway before it gets really busy, right now is your opportunity. 6:37. back to steve. thank you, sal. very good morning. still some snow in them there hills and a lot more coming in as we head towards friday and saturday. snow down to sea level. could be. that's a possibility as when he had into friday night and saturday morning early saturday morning. today is the first leading edge of our change in the weather pattern after yesterday's beautiful day. clouds increase. it will be cooler. a little breezy. not too bad. tomorrow clouded up. and it will be much colder. today's cooler tomorrow's colder. there will be rain maybe even before the afternoon hours. this when that system gets close for everybody might everyone be rain for the north bay by morning. a few little blips right off shelter cove also eureka. mainly it's the clouds on the increase today. sunny yesterday to cloudy,

mostly cloudy, partly sunny towards the south bay today. winter storm watch is already out by the national weather service in monterey for the north bay hills tomorrow afternoon. tomorrow evening, tomorrow afternoon. for snow level at, near, slightly below 1,000 feet. they were flirting with even putting a winter storm watch out for the valley floor. but they held it at 1,000 feet for the north bay hills. you don't -- i don't say that very often around here. winter storm watch i do say that for the sierra a lot. also up north lake county winter storm watch thursday night into friday night one to two feet of powder. this could be -- snow ratio will be just off the chart. will this will be like utah, colorado snow. even down around sacramento and fulsome. way down there. few little blips showing off shelter cove and near eureka. no big deal but a sign of things to come as we head into tonight and tomorrow. today 30s and 40s. 42 oakland, 41 hayward. 35 redwood city.

33 for santa rosa. san francisco yesterday was 56 with sunshine for everybody. today it will be more clouds than sun. a little cooler. go for a high of 54. a lot of high and midlevel clouds getting closer. they're being drown in right there. still coming down. the low up here. seattle 33 cloudy with mixed precipitation. it's on its way. so clouds, cold in the morning. partly cloudy, mostly cloudy. hold onto that scattered clouds for the afternoon hours, evening hours and then mostly cloudy by tonight as the system gets closer. 50s, mid-50s few upper everyone around 55, 56, 57. tomorrow cloudy, rain will be moving in more. it will get here. friday's the main day. the cold air arrives snow very low snow levels friday night into saturday. gone saturday night, sunday brisk and breezy. time now 6:40. just two hours from now the six defendants in the richmond gang rape case are due in court for

arraignment. they're charged with a vicious attack on a 16-year-old girl outside of a richmond high homecoming dance in october 2009. most suspects are facing a possible life sentence. well, can you guess which places have the most germs when you head to the airport? some of the answers may surprise you and change your travel habits. plus the secret a modesto man is accused of keeping while living in a house with a dead body. and if you're driving across bay area bridges and causeways, so far no major issues according to the highway patrol. we have another update on your traffic and weather just minutes ahead.

good morning to you. welcome back. here's a quick look at some of the top stories we're following for you right now at 6:43. in new zealand, police, emergency workers, soldiers still out there searching for survivors in the ruins of the earthquake damage in christ church. more than 100 people have been rescued, but at least 75 are known to be dead. 300 are remaining missing. the mt. diablo school board decided they will not close anymore schools. a big meeting last night the school district said it will look at instead alternative recommendations in order to save $1.5 million a year. and in libya anti-

government protesters insist they're not going to back down on demand for libya leader gadafi to step down. that's despite gadafi's call to his supporters to take to the streets to fight those protesters. an above average snow pack in the sierra this winter is raising concerns about the delta levee system. a heavy spring runoff is just one of the many potential threats to the delta. word from the california department of resource states the levee system is tested every day, but some scientists say the system is unsustainable and failure is inevitable. >> whether it's a flood, whether it's an earthquake, or the unlikely case both, the risks are still really high. we can't paper this over. >> the state sponsored council will unveil a plan next year outlining a possible solution for the delta levee problems. our time is now 6:45. demonstrators will once again gather in wisconsin for the ninth day of protests at the state capitol there.

right now there's a marathon session happening in the state assembly in wisconsin, but democrats have been stalling the progress with a filibuster against the bill that would strip away from unions their collective bargaining rights. wisconsin governor scott walker's warning that up to 1500 state employees could be laid off by july if that bill does not pass. same sex couples in three states including california could get bigger federal tax refunds this year. the irs is requiring all same sex married couples or registered domestic partners in california, nevada and washington to do what's called income splitting. they should add up their combined income and each declare half on their separate tax returns. the couples who have large differences in what they earn could see thousands of dollars in savings over the way they had to file in the past. a man is accused of hiding the body of his dead uncle so he could go on a spending spree

with his uncle's money. the suspect is 45-year-old patrick. he was supposed to be caring for his 63-year-old uncle but investigators say the uncle died some time last month after falling inside his home. deputies say for almost 30 days the suspect continued living in the same house where the body was decomposing. >> living it up here in the central valley. went to some local gaming casinos. >> the suspect is now in jail charged with involuntary manslaughter and elder abuse. time now 6:46. shrinking budgets that's not the only challenge teachers all over the country are facing. there's a new survey that found hunger in the classroom is a major problem. 65% of teachers grades k through 8 say they are seeing students that come to class hungry on a regular basis. almost 60% say they use their own money to feed hungry children in their class. survey was conducted by a nonprofit group working to end

childhood hunger in america. there could soon be a way for drivers to program their gps devices to plan their routes based on the safety record of a particular street or highway. triple a is launching a pilot program to map out the nation's safest and deadliest corridors. now it's based on the rate of traffic deaths, serious injuries and the roadway's engineering features. also usa today has come up with a list of the dirtiest aspects of being on a plane. they point to the airplane's bathroom, the floor at the security check points because everybody's got to take their shoes off. they suggest keep your socks on. they've also pointed to the magazines and catalogs you'll find on a plane. the airport water fountain, airline pillows and blankets you may be resting on is experts say use hand sanitizers before you come in contact with any of those frequently touched surfaces that you probably didn't think about.

i'm glad i don't have toddlers anymore. that was the big concern, sal. little kids and they're touching the floor and you just know it's bad. and then they touch you. >> and everything else. >> good morning everyone. let's see what we have now with the morning drive. it hasn't been all that bad today. as we look at a live picture of people cueing up to come into san francisco here at the bay bridge it looks like a moderate delay with no major issues on that span. also this morning we're looking at the commute on interstate 880 right near the coliseum. that traffic is moving along very nicely. southbound little bit busier on the way down to hayward. and this morning's commute on hayward union city and fremont that looks okay. southbound traffic is moving well heading up to the south bay. 6:49. let's go to steve. thank you, sal. clouds increasing today. sunshine yesterday. clouds increase today. you might want to work from home on friday. seriously. because it looks like that will be the main focus of the day. some of the updated information starting to come in friday looks very cold and wet.

friday night snow levels look extremely low. clouds increasing today. starting to see that already. mostly cooler day. cool and breezy. it yesterday a few 60s. cooler today, colder tomorrow. maybe even rain before the afternoon. but it looks like for most of the bay area around 5:00 or 6:00. somewhere in there. i'll ease into that tomorrow. cloudy, very cold on friday. rain and snow. snow. yes. possible. system already starting to show itself with increasing clouds. radar returns right off eureka no big deal. clouds increasing are. what is a big deal is the extremely low snow levels possible not only for the bay area but maybe down to sea level. maybe. winter storm watch posted by the national weather service for the north bay hills for snow around 1,000 feet or maybe even below. that will be thursday evening. i still think friday afternoon and evening is the main focus of the time. sierra nevada the sooner you get up there the better. or wait until late saturday or sunday. winter storm watch also there.

snow one to two feet of powder easily and snow level again around sacramento could be around 1,000 feet or lower as well. 30s on the temps right now. 30s and 40s. i think temperatures have stopped cooling down because of the cloud cover coming in. the source of the clouds there's a low off vancouver and also seattle. look how it draws the moisture from the system to the left. that's what's coming over us now. clouds increase it will be cooler today cloudty to the north. forecasted highs mid-50s. i could put in 55 for everybody and i bet i'd be close. 55 fairfield, 55 oakland. 55 novato. slightly warmer but not a lot from san jose, morgan hill to gill row. redwood city 57. pleasanton 57. rain starts thursday evening and friday looks like a cold rainy day with snow in the hills. and then friday night, saturday morning snow will make it to very, very low levels. it will be gone saturday night. sunday looks good. but cool and breezy. all right. thank you, steve. this morning lowe's reports net

income jumped 39% during the final three months of last year. the nation's second largest home improvement chain followed the number one home depot with good numbers and says shoppers are starting to spend again and are taking on home improvement and repair projects. all right. let's check in on the numbers. they are down. we have oil at a two year high. that's certainly effecting things because of the unrest in libya. dow jones live look at the big board off 35 points to 12,177. some good news though -- actually bad news. hewlett pack hard down 11.5%. apple shareholders another local company to watch, they are meeting today to talk about what life will be like after steve jobs. all right. time now 62:00. reportly six block busters in the bay area are closing according to to managers. however officials at company headquarters won't confirm or deny that. workers at the san ramon, san

leandro and clayton locations have been told their stores will be shut down in april. the san francisco stores on church street, slope boulevard and one on geary near 17th avenue will also close according to employees at those locations. now the manager at the geary boulevard store says starting friday there will be no more movie rentals. instead, everything will be for sale. block buster filed for bankruptcy last september. they said then that they would close about 250 stores but never gave details about 60 stores have already closed. well, a toast to america's wine makers. one way the business is booming especially for those wine makers here in california. plus, how "american idol" will give you a new way to pick the winner.

time now 6:55. vallejo police want to know if a man found dead was a homicide victim. an autopsy revealed 45-year-old died of blunt force trauma, but police still don't know if he was the victim of a crime. he went missing about three weeks ago after he was last seen leaving his home taking his dog for a walk. his body was found last week. that chihuahua at the center of an argument led to its owner being shot, it has died. san francisco police say the dog named gizmo was hit by a

car on friday about a block from the market where his owner was shot and wounded two weeks ago after accusing an employee of kicking gizmo. that employee has pleaded not guilty. 2010 was a rebound year for u.s. wine makers especially those here in california. vytones from the golden state shipped more than $900 million. that's a sharp turn around from a year ago when wine exports actually dropped 9%. "american idol" fans you've got a new way to vote this season. in addition to phone calls and text messages, you'll be able to vote online. the system's voting limitations are still being worked out. but like other reality shows online voting limits are unlikely. season 10 of "american idol" continues tonight in vegas with one hour of beatles music and another hour of eliminations. you can of course watch "american idol" right here on

ktvu channel 2 beginning at 8:00 . i'm looking forward to that. right now check in with sal for a look at traffic. >> all right. coming up on mornings on 2 we will continue to watch the bay bridge because it's getting busy. we are just minutes away from a complete traffic update. but just tell you that this is now more like a 10 minute delay. let's go to steve. >> sal, we do have a mix of sun and clouds today. a little cooler, highs in the 50s and then tomorrow we cloud it up and the rain starts in the really cold air arrives thursday night and friday. more on that coming up on mornings on 2. pam and dave. that's right. much more on mornings on 2 including worried about a vicious overnight beating on the streets of oakland. ktvu news has exclusive video as the police moved in. playing with fire, a child is now to blame for a destructive fire and the problems for san jose firefighters did not end there. stay with us.