japan's nuclear crisis is literally reaching the boiling point and just 30 minutes ago, there was another powerful aftershock. we're live from tokyo.

and good morning to you. welcome to "mornings on 2." i'm dave clark. >> i'm tori campbell. it's tuesday, march 15. we've been following the developments from japan. just moments ago, a large aftershock hit. jana, you were on the phone with the producer. what did it feel like? >> reporter: well, i was talking with the executive producer, and just completely out of the blue, i started to hear a noise first and the desk was shaking. it's definitely been the largest aftershock that we've felt here so far.

there have been at least four, possibly more that have happened, where we felt it in tokyo. but immediately after ward, i turned on the tv and they showed the lamps swaying and things like that. p was definitely a scare. >> it was a 6.2, is that correct? >> reporter: i haven't had a chance to look at it yet. but definitely large. you know, i did want to bring up one thing, earlier in the week, some of the experts were saying that they believe that there was a -- a problem -- they thought that -- 70% chance of a 7.0 aftershock sometime in the coming days.

so that's definitely been in my mind. >> you can tell us about the -- can you tell us about the nuclear problems? >> reporter: certainly. that was something that we noticed earlier in the day. it's about 11:00 p.m. here on tuesday. one of the things they were saying, is there were radiations, higher elevated radiation levels detected in the area around tokyo. central tokyo near -- 200 or more quill low meters -- kilometers where the power plants are having that nuclear crisis. at the airport, they had radiation levels. people have been talking about this on the street. big concerns about that. >> there was a reactor fire at

an earthquake-damaged fueling plant and some of the rods are not -- how are the people you are coming into contact with coping with this desire? >> reporter: well, there is a great desire -- people have been voluntarily turning off lights, decreasing their electricity use because they know the country is in a crisis and i think that's something that's become clear, just the sense that everyone needs to pull together in this moment of crisis and try to get the country through this. so definitely there's been efforts that are being made and people are concerned. there's no doubt about that. >> all right. jana, with ktvu, joining us live from tokyo. it's 11:00 p.m. there. thank you. >> reporter: all right. >> thank you, jana. stay safe. 7:04. back here at home, san

francisco police are busy searching for gunmen in a shooting that happened outside of a crowded bar in the mission district. five people were shot in the gunfire at 16th and kaladonia streets. allie rasmus tells us -- tells us why people are concerned about this area. >> reporter: good morning. that's because it's a very busy foot traffic area. about 100 feet from where we're standing is the b.a.r.t. station. people are making their way. as they are making their way down there, they are passing the bar where this shooting happened. you can see there are bullet holes. next door, the restaurant was also struck by gunfire. you can see the taco restaurant, shattered. this shooting happened last

night after 11:00. five people were shot. all were transported to the hospital. one person we're told does have life-threatening injuries. police believe the victim may have been targeted. they are looking into the possibility this may have been a gang-related shooting. one man says even if that was the case, bystanders could have been easy hurt. >> the 16th street with valencia and this is a lot of foot traffic in this area. so i definitely think that, you know, people that are -- could be collateral damage to this type of violence. >> reporter: now, the mission district has been the site of escalating violence in recent weeks. police blame it on disputes between two rival gangs. three men have been shot and killed in this neighborhood since february. no one was killed last night in the shooting. but police think others could

be gang-related. police have not identified a motive, the victims or the suspect. but police say witnesses in the area did see a vehicle leaving the scene shortly after this happened. but police don't have a description. back to you. and stocks are plunging today. bond prices are rising as the nuclear crisis in japan intensifies following that deadly earthquake and dangerous levels of radiation leaking from a crippled nuclear plant forcing japan to order 140,000 people to stay indoors. you can see how this is impacting wall street. this live picture of the big board. the dow is down 257 points, at 11,737, well below 12,,000. the nasdaq is down 2.5%, down 65. and the s&p is down also about 2.25, down 29 points to 1267.

this, of course, is because it's been a really bad day on asian markets, especially in japan. overnight, the nikkei fell more than 14.5% but managed a -- managed a late comeback. that follows yesterday's 6% loss of the nikkei is down 20% since the start of the year. manufacturing around the country has been paralyzed by energy and even construction companies tumbled in today's trading. one well-known american company, starbucks, they say 100 of the 109 stores are closed because of quake or thank you damage. japan, by the way -- tsunami damage. japan, by the way, tokyo was

the -- tokyo's store wases the first happen. mc donald's has about 3300 stores in japan. mc donald's will contribute $2 million to help out in the relief efforts. >> there is go gonna need to be -- there's gone be a lot of need. >> yes. we want to check in with sal. is it pretty crowded? >> we had a couple of stalls. westbound, you can see it's not moving all that well. it's at least a 15-minute wait before you get on the bridge. mere time getting across the span. as we look at the span, we don't have any crashes reported. let's take a look at the commute in san francisco. earlier we had a crash at southbound 101 at the u.p.s. building but that's been removed. traffic is still slow heading southbound. in the south bay at northbound 87 at kurtner avenue, an

accident blocking one lane. the rest of the freeways still look okay. if you are driving be on nimitz -- driving ott nimitz down to milpitas, it's getting crowded. let's go to steve. we have a system moving through. we have the warm system moving through. the front still has aways to go. it's beginning to move back to the coast. not much going on in the north bay right now. things are relatively quiet. it's looming right offshore. it's just kind of been skirting the area. most of that has ended. same for the peninsula and the santa cruz mountains. there's not a lot going on but on the side shot that's what's moving in late he. the system is, again, taking most of its aim towards the north but we're going to see it

moving. the first band has gone through. there is a lot out here. there will be heavy-duty rain up along north of fort bragg. the south bay may have to wait until before the front moves through. look at the temperatures. 54, 55, 56, 57. you name it. it's on the mild side. these haven't moved in three hours. our system continues to get help aid -- helped along by a jet stream. this is from the west- southwest. that holds more moisture. the pattern showing signs of changing turning colder. today that's not the case. .25 to 2 inches plus, that would be in north bay. south of us, this system will stall out. we'll hold on to some rain for the south bay. it may take a while to get there. north bay will take the brunt of it. a colder system arrives on friday into saturday.

today it's friday. scattered light rain in the morning and then the front arrives. heaviest rain will be to the north. a little breeze kicking up as well. low 60s. mid-toupper 50s. five day has the rain moving in today. and a lot of clouds. offand on showers. here comes the -- off and on showers. here comes the system, with lower snow levels, maybe down to 2500 feet saturday and sunday. er toly and dave? and -- tori and dave? >> thank youing steve. we're continuing to follow the disaster in japan. we'll hear from a california nuclear power plant official about their safety, their level of safety in the event of a quake. how a six-hour standoff at a marin county bank came to an end last night and why part of

the thieves' motives involved president obama.

good morning. we have cloudy skies. the front will start too move in. we've had light rain already but most of that has ended. the next band is moving onshore. look for a cloudy day, rain mainly in the north bay, 1 to 2 inches possible in the wettest locations. time turning 7:15. in japan, the concern is growing about a possible nuclear meltdown at an earthquake-damaged nuclear power plant. our reporter, martin savage, joining us live from akita, japan, with the very latest on the radiation threat and, martin, what is it like where you are? i know there is a delay while we're talking to each other. but what is it like where you are?

>> reporter: well, good morning, dave. we just had another aftershock. in fact, we may have had two back-to-back ones. there are conflicting reports of the strength of it at 5.6 or 6.0. definitely things are moving. you can feel it even where we are at akey -- akita, some distance away. this nation is dealing with two major disasters at the same time, and they all relate to the earthquake and tsunami last friday. but the nuclear reactors, there are six different nuclear reactors there. all of them now are in some stage of trouble. at least four of them, the government says, could go into meltdown, not one, not two, but potentially four of them could go into meltdown. we had an explosion at reactor number two earlier today and then we had a fire at reactor

number four. there was a spike in the radiation release at that time. in fact, it was believed to be hazardous in and around the immediate area. they told people within about 20 miles to remain in their homes. there was also a slight rise in the radiation levels in tokyo but nothing deemed harmful. but in the meantime, the prime minister has gone on television and has said to his own people, please don't panic because many people are becoming extremely worried about the situation with the tsunami and earthquake and the number of deaths. that's the other part of the story we're working on. >> we're told the u.s. is to fly in and put waterdrops down there. have you heard anything about that? >> reporter: we do know already that there were u.s. experts that were brought in,

specifically those focused on dooling -- cooling reactors. we know they are using sea water. they using a system of fire hoses to actually put the water in. it might seem like a rudimentary, some say last- ditch effort. you are trying to get water in specific areas of the plant and you are trying to bring it in in a specific amount of volume. but you don't want to risk people while doing it. so those in the aircraft will be threatened in some way, shape or form. in fact, there is a no-fly zone threat in that area. even flights coming into japan are being reboughted to avoid that area. >> please stay safe. thank you. the nuclear threat of the earthquake-damaged japanese nuclear plants is having an

impact all over the world. you are looking at demonstrators in germany. they protested to the continued use of reactors there. the chancellor there, angela merkel, ordered them offline for three months, while they examine their plants. the san onofre plant in san diego county and diablo canyon up here, can handle a 7.5 quake. the operators say it can withstand a magnitude 7 quake. >> when we talk about withstand, we mean the ability to shut it down. certainly you are not intending to operate it in an emergency

safety. but if you within to shut down it down -- but if you want to shut it down and protect the public we can do it. >> experts say water is key. one man is in police custody after a bank standoff in marin county ended peacefully. it's an update to a story we first brought you on the news at 5:00. the 25-year-old finally walked out of the bank of america, just after 10:15 last night. that's where the man helped police at bay -- held the -- police at bay for hours. the suspect walked into the bank of america and took hostages. the man eventually let everyone leave and hostage negotiators

were able to convince him. >> we showed him we were there and we were not leaving. >> police added the man was upset with president obama and the ceo of bank of america for what he was calling inequality in america. 7:20. a california college student's rant about her fellow classmates could get her into trouble. comment she made in the youtube video that's now -- that's now gone ville.

welcome back. a california college student getting death threats after posting a rant on youtube. she's a third-year student at

ucla. she posted -- posted a three- minute video where she says asian students talk to loudly at lie bay areary. that video has been viral. shal-- she apologized. a new study shows last year more people got their news from the web than from newspapers. this is the first time in history the web has beat newspapers. and it's indicated when the new tally is in, on-line ad revenue will have surpassed. the only thing it didn't beat is -- television news. two wireless companies are helping friends and family keep in contact with with their

loved ones in japan. at&t is offering free service until the end of march. they are limited to 60 minutes of free calls and verizon is promising free calls until april 10th. it's not limiting the amount of time its customers can cost. the experts predict we'll be next paying $4. with our current state-wide average price, just a few pennies away from $4. sanfrancisco, where the average price is already topping 4 bucks a gallon. >> yep. getting expensive. it's 7:25. we want to check in, once again, with sal, keeping a close eye on commute this morning. >> and once again, is what kills your gas mileage is idling in traffic. if you want to avoid the slow

traffic, traffic is busy on interstate 80 westbound. as you drive out to the berkeley area and get into oakland. it will be very slow. it's slow in pinole. most of the way, it's like this, heading out to a crowded bay bridge tacoma -- toll plaza. westbound san mateo and dumbarton look good. if you are coming in from tracy, we have quite a bit of traffic on the altamont pass. 7:26. let's go to steve. thank you, sal. we do have cloudy skies. there's been light rain. but the system is getting stronger, starting to move in, especially along the men doe see he know coast -- mendocino coast. we had one band go by.

here comes the front, taking aim towards the north. it will drag across us. you can see on live stormtracker2, there's the front on san mateo county heading into northwest sonoma county. the system may not 0 make it to the-- may not make it to the south bay. a lot of jet stream is taking aim at extreme northern california but each system is dipping and holds a lot of moisture. the winds are picking up. i've seen gusts at 0 miles an hour at point reyes. a cloudy, breezy day. mostly cloudy. here comes the colder system for friday. that will give rain to

everybody friday and saturday. >> thank you, steve. 7:27. dangerous levels of radiation are leaking from a crippled japanese nuclear plant, what it's now forced that company to do. the radiation fears in the country spreading to california. what some local people are doing to try to protect themselves. >> reporter: teachers are holding a statewide day of action. mum we'll have a live -- coming up we'll have a live interview about what they are asking for. and thousands of people are being notified, a lot of them are right here in california, about a security breach.

we continue to follow the crisis in japan. dangerous levels of radiation is being leaked out of the nuclear reactors. in a nationally-televised statement, japan's prime minister says the radiation has spread from reactors on the northern coast. late today, officials a the plant said they were considering asking for help from the u.s. and japanese militaries to spray water from

helicopters into the pool. all of this comes as the death toll continues to go up. we're hearing stories of hope and survival. this video shows loved ones reuniting in japan several days after the quake and tsunami hit the country. this morning, we received world of a 70-year-old woman found alive inside the rubble of her home. closer to home, a michigan couple, finally reconnected with their son last night after days of worry about whether he survived the quake and the tsunami. >> it's a mess. it's damaged. it's crazy. i'm trying to get through it like one day at a time. >> right now, officials confirm the death toll is at 3300, but with thousands still missing, that number is expected to top 10,000. 7:32. as the death toll rises in japan so does the fear about

radiation leaking from damaged nuclear power plants. ktvu's kraig debro joining us live with precautions some people are taking right now right here in california. good morning, kraig. >> reporter: good morning, dave. some people say it's precaution. other people say it's fear. one company said it sold out of its 10,000 packet stock yesterday. others say the packets are going for $500 a shot. people are flocking to stores to get potassium iodine. that, despite the fact, that there are no threats to the bay area, at least according to the experts. area is constantly being monitored by the air quality board. the data from the monitoring system goes directly to a higher government agency but a spokesperson says if there was something wrong we would already know about it. >> we have instrumentation out there that's capable of reading very, very small changes of

radioactive -- radioactive output. >> reporter: no matter what they've heard it's hard for them to look at the explosions at the nuclear power plants. still, people, we spoke with say those buying up pills need a little perspective. >> i've been hearing some crazy rumors. think it's a little ridiculous. i think people like to buy into scares for various reasons. >> reporter: the iodine or the ki is used to protect the thyroid. so if there was a serious threat, that's what you would want to buy. [no audio ]

>> reporter: now, the 30 dose means it would be a lot stronger than that and we're 5,000 miles away, in the united states. we're gonna try to find some people buying iodine. back to you. >> thank you, kraig. tsunami damage to the santa cruz harbor has reportedly grown to $22 million. the harbor remains closed at least through sunday. but 14 docks are open allowing some people who live on their boats is return. seven other docks on the southeast side have limited access -- access between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. >> our primary focus is certainly public safety but it's also the environmental hazards. so all of this has to be done with minimal risk of rupturing one of those fuel tanks and having all of that fuel end up in the harbor. >> ten other boats are still missing. it's unclear if the boats are

at the bottom of the of the -- bottom of the harbor or taken out to sea. fish and game say 15 boats sank and almost the harbor is virtually destroyed. that's devastated the local fishing industry. 7:5. well, today bay area parents and educators are calling attention to proposed education budget cuts and teacher layoffs. christen kafton is in union city right now where an event just ended about 30 minutes ago. >> reporter: that news conference wrapped up a little offer a half an hour ago. a school district where 60 teachers have received their layoff notices. if we can talk for a moment about what these budget cuts would mean for this school

district. >> reporter: mainly, our class sizes in kindergarten to third grade will increase. right now we've been able to protect those early grades. kind, we have -- kindergarten we have 23 children. >> room we are standing in could be on the chopping block. >> this beautiful lie prairie is set to close -- library is set to close. this library was just built a year ago for our children and thousand any -- now they will have no access to the books and research. >> reporter: and you want people to respond to governor brown's proposal to extend tax increases? >> absolutely. we would like the public's help to talk to their legislature. let's put this on the ballot and let people choose. we need this plam.

it will keep programs we love and prepare our kids. >> reporter: again, this is part of an overall day of action. there will be rallies throughout the day, including the state superintendent of schools talking in san bruno at 10:00 as well as a rally at oakland high school from oakland teachers and educateerts there -- educators. back to you. >> thank you. it's a very different story in the san ramon school trick. school officials there decided not to hand out pink solicit. just a short time ago we spoke to the district's spokesperson to find out how that is

possible. 7. we want to check in again with -- 7:38. we want to check in again with sal castanedo. >> it's not a really great commute now and it has not been as wet as it was yesterday. westbound bay bridge has been this way for the last hour and a half. it seems to be improving a little bit. i see some more movement. we had an earlier stalled vehicle up on bridge that was removed quickly. it takes a little to make the traffic slow. we're seeing some improvement and sometimes when that happens, by the time 8:30 rolls around we'll see a big improvement barring any accidents or stalled vehicles. this is a look at 101 is san francisco if you are cutting through, say to go to airport. 101 is okay. after that, it's all right. in the south bay, 237 stop-and- go traffic, 808 is a little slow still heading down from

hayward. it's very slow on 880 southbound. it picks up by the time you reach 84. 7:39. let's go to steve. cloudy skies, mostly cloudy, we've had some light rain. more showery in nature. starting to move back in now, especially towards the north bay. it holds a lot of moisture, a lot of moisture. very active pattern. not only today the rest of the week but also into the weekend as it turns much colder. it will get much colder around here. rain moves in today, cloudy, mild, breezy conditions, to even windy. tomorrow, thursday, a lot of clouds, off-and-on rain but then a colder system moves in as we go into friday and saturday. in fact, lowering snow levels. in fact, temperatures are really gonna drop off the table in the next 46, 72 hours.

1.25 is possible out of this storm. you can see our system. we already had the warm sector go through. that's already zipped on by. there is a good plume of moisture. this will drop south over the next 24 to 36 hours. you can see some of the bands that came through. here comes the leading edge of the system up towards lake county, men doe see known county. i think 2 plus towards cazadero. 56 oakland. 55 san francisco. 55 livermore. 57 san jose. temperatures will be on the moderate side until we can get that system to slide south.

there will be a lot of off-and- on showers. then that cold system moves in. by noon, 56 to 62. a lot of clouds, some rain, it will be breezy and we'll carry that into this evening when this system finally makes it into peninsula, south bay and east bay. but not before upper 50s and 60s to the north. but still some 60s. also the peninsula, 50s and 60s, though, i long the coast. keep that rain here handy because you're gonna need it. probably the next three, five, seven days. >> thank you, steve. markets are rocketed. another rough day on the japanese stock market. we'll tell you what they closed at today. also the big impact it's having on wall street. and how the disaster in

japan has silenced the voice duck in the aflack -- after flack commerce -- aflack commercial.

stock markets around the world are reacting to the situation in japan. for a look at the latest numbers, we go to pam cook in the newsroom who also has what business leaders are saying. >> the stage was certainly set overnight when japan's nikkei stock indecks dropped another 10%, taking the -- index, dropped another 10%, taking the major market index with it. right at the sound of our

opening bell here on wall street, the dow started dropping. at one point it was down nearly 300 points. the nasdaq and s&p 500 dropping even more percentagewise. right now, we want to take a live look at the big board on the new york stock exchange. dow jones down about 200, to 11,83. it started the day just under 12,000. , you know, markets are still open now as -- european markets are -- are still open. the fear is that the crisis in japan will overwhelm the financial markets there. insurance companies, also

taking a hit today, of course, in the aftermath of that tsunami and the earthquake after flack, hartford, met life and prudential all trading lower. hewlett-packard and intel, it's still under clear how they will be afifthed. they work cash -- affected. they work with suppliers in japan. still probably too early to tell all of the direct impacts about what's happened in japan and how that will impact businesses here in the united states. let's go back to tori. thank you, pam. stay with us for continuing coverage. we'll bring you the latest developments from japan and the impact here in the bay area. 7:47. california health officials are investigating a major computer

security breach at about 2 million people nationwide could be affected by this. healthnet says several server hard drives are messing from a data center in rancho cordova near sacramento. those drives contain personal information. so far health not is -- healthnet is not giving us information about who is affected. healthnet is contacting individuals now. they are offering two -- offering two years of credit monitoring protection for any of the victims. police in oakland are still looking for those who ransacked and vandalizedded an east elementary school. officials say the break-in happened after ap event on

friday. computers, projectors and cell phones were taken. school officials say there have been several break-ins in several years but this one was the worse. two uc berkeley graduates accused of spying in iran will be back in court in may. shane bauer and january fattal were decomplained along with say vow shourd. they say they were hiking in iraq and inadvertenly crossed the border. the names of the jury in the barry bonds perjury case will be kept secret until the trial is over. the judge said jury secrecy is needed to ensure a fair trial. bonds is set to go on trial next week. he's accused of lying under oath when he testified he never

knowingly took steroids. the problem of illegal dumping is apparently moving south from san francisco's bayview hunter's point neighborhood into south city. workers at the sun hung food company in south called ktvu. they reported they had been the victims of illegal drumming -- dumping. they came to work to find out their -- to find their loading dock filled with construction debris. >> we were just surprised that somebody could do that at night while nobody is here. >> the workers say they've checked their surveillance video. they saw a truck come in twice in less than 15 minutes. they turned that video over to city officials who have contacted the people believed responsible but workers tell us no charges have been filed. and in the employees of sun hing food say that he have to clean up the mess. the actor who was the voice of the affl am c ducks looking

for a -- aflac duck was fired after what he made were called insensitive comments about the disaster in japan. aflac is looking for a new voice for the duck. very distinctive voice. an unexpected encounter that happened at the san diego zoo how a caretaker was hurt.

welcome back. the last american veteran of world world war i will be laid to rest this afternoon. what you are looking at is a live picture of arlington national cemetery and the

casket contains army corporal frank buckels. he's being memorialized right now. you see the public at the side of your picture. they are coming in now and paying final respects before his burial. he died last month at the age of 110. president obama has ordered all government buildings to fly their flags at half-staff today. nasa is saying they won't make any more statements about the man who died on the space shuttle launch yesterday until the investigation is over. nasa officials say the man fell off the pad while working for a company that contracts with nasa. he worked at kennedy space center since the beginning of the shuttle program. a caretaker at the san diego zoo was injured after being bitten by a panda. it happened on sunday while the zoo was closed. zoo officials say the caretaker was bitten. the zoo says a safety barrier

between the keeper and the area and the animal's habitat was not fully secure. and the panda was able to wonder out. google is gathering information and providing it to the victims of the tsunami and the earthquake and their families. google has set up this website that lets them know where their family and friends are. there's location on blackouts, shelter information, and it also a loy yous -- it allows the family to post information about specific people -- specific people who were in japan when that disaster happened. sanjose is hoping to -- to help out when they play their next game. they will donate $1 for every fan that shows up on saturday, at the game.

they will know notify to the red cross for every save made by the team's goaltenders. we want to check in with sal. specifically, contra costa county. >> it's busy there. we're gonna start there. highway 4 has improved ale will bit here in bay point. it's a little bit slow in antioch. 680 is slow as you are driving from concord down to san ramon. 4 is okay to oakland. we're getting a little bit of improvement here. westbound there's still about a ten-minute delay at the toll plaza. on peninsula, the traffic is moving well. we're hearing about caltrain issues in burlingame, one of the train crossings at oak grove avenue is not working properly and the trains are slowing down right through burlingame there. it's unclear how this will affect the system on caltrain

this morning. let's go to steve. cloudy skies, temperatures in the 50s. the wind is picking up. we had a couple of weak bands of rain go through. now the front is getting closer. one system went by. here comes the next. the last few frames, watch as this really starts to light up. lake county, mendocino county, that's pretty intense rain there, coming into sonoma county and heading into the russian river. 2 plus inches certainly likely out of this system in the north bay. lesser amounts to the south. 50s on the temperatures. they've been there all morning long. now you add cold air to the mix, it looks active to us.

the system will weaken as it leaves but not before it leaves about 1.25 of rain. here comes that really cold low dropping in on friday. that will give widespread rain for everybody and very little snow levels, especially saturday night into sunday. we're following a new development in japan right now. u.s. navy taking precautions after detecting radiation on an aircraft carrier. >> reporter: five people were shot on a busy san francisco street last night. you can see the bullet holes riddled the front door of this business. coming up what needs to happen in miss district in the wake of escalating violence. that story -- after the break.

so far a lot of clouds and not too much rain.

but that's about to change. it's now time for the second hour of "mornings on 2." good morning. welcome back. i'm dave clark. it's tuesday, march 15th. the concerns are growing about a nuclear crisis in japan. that's after a reactor fire at an earthquake-damaged nuclear plant released increased levels of radiation into the atmosphere. some of the fuel rods at the plant are no longer being cooled by water. and that's leading some to fears of a meltdown. 140,000 people who live within 19 miles of that nuclear plant have been told to stay indoors. also new this morning, u.s. navy commanders on an aircraft commander docked in japan are ordering precautions after low levels of radio activity were

detected from the plant. japan is thousands of miles away from the bay area. but radiation leaks from damaged nuclear power plants there is causing concern here at home. kraig debro is live now with what some people are trying to do to protect themselves. good morning, kraig. >> reporter: good morning, pam. they-- tori. excuse me. they don't even sell potassium iodine at walgreens, even if they did, the experts say it wouldn't protect you from radiation. that's because there is no radiation to protect against. >> my whole family thinks i'm a nut bag being worried about this. i don't know. i just -- there's winds aloft. i don't know. i'm not a scientist. >> reporter: laurel props says she's worried you because she has only -- she's air worried because she has half a thyroid

and kids. the power plant in japan is serious concern for people living near that plant. government is passing out thousands of iodine pills to the people in the area. the pills protect the thyroid, sometimes. >> i think if the threat is no real at of die o dine is gonna save you -- there is real, no amount of iodine is gonna save you. >> they want to prevent the radiation. >> reporter: despite the relative safety of living in the u.s., companies telling ki, or potassium iodine, prices are leafing -- rising. kraig debro, ktvu channel 2 news. >> thank you, kraig. overnight news, san francisco police searching for gunmen in a shooting outside of a crowded bar in the mission district. now five people were wounded in

the gave at 16th and kaladonia streets. the bullets also hit several businesses. allie rasmus just talked to one business owner. >> reporter: this shooting happened just after 11:00 last night outside the bar on 16th. there are bullet holes in the front door of this building but the owner of the building next door says there's so much gunfire, his building also gotly. he claims the build -- the bullets went through the front door of his restaurant. it ricocheted and traveled and struck the food counter, hitting feet away some of the workers who were inside at the time. altogether, five people were shot and injured in this shooting. but at this point, police believe the people they were -- people who were struck and injured, think they may have been the intended target.

the owner of the taco shop says businesses and the people who live around here need a greater law enforcement presence on these streets. >> if people will see police around, they would stop and think about what they are gonna do. >> reporter: the district has been the site of escalating violence. this is whaled on rival gangs. three young men have been shot and killed in this neighborhood. no one was killed in last night's the shooing but police think the other shootings was gang-related. police have not idead -- police have not identified the identities of the victim, but they do say some beens -- witnesses in the area notice a vehicle living in the scene. reporting live in san

francisco, allie rasmus, ktvu channel 2 news. >> 8:05. the well, the police -- the police have identify the 8-year- old girl killed in what's being called a murder-suicide attempt by girl's mother. police say 5-year-old crystal johnson killed her daughter on friday. police found ms. johnson and the 8-year-old inside of a running car in the garage of their home in san leandro. police say a hose was leading from a tailpipe into the car. the child's mother is facing charges in the little girl's death. 8:06. we want to check in again with sal castanedo, get an update on the commute. see how things are moving in oakland. >> that's right. it will be another slow down in oakland, not quite as it was yesterday. northbound 880 is slow much to the coliseum. yesterday we had the terrible

day -- this is not quite as bad but certainly no picnic. the toll plaza is backed up for a small deplay here. i would say a ten-minute delay. it's improving a little bit but it will still be waiting for a while. if you are on the peninsula, the traffic is moving well. the police are aware of the signal crossing arms not working properly in burlingame. there may be some delays because of that. as we move our maps to the south, you can see it's slow in sunnyvale. 8:07. let's go to steve. thank you, sir. we do have cloudy skies, moderate/heavy rain moving in. we'll show you that in just a moment. the system coming in now is the first of what looks like many. the jet stream has been staying to the north

wind's already picked up. seen gusts 30 miles an hour for a few along coast. cloudy, breezy, mild for a while. then rain increasing. tomorrow it will be another sun/clouds, more showers off and on. that will take us into thursday. then a cold low moves in on friday sand saturday -- friday and saturday. that will mean widespread rain for everybody. pretty good band lighting up the radar. stretching back to sonoma and napa county. it looks like it's starting to move into the run river. you up towards healdsburg and

geyserville. it won't be hard to get in the 60s by friday. these might be the highs as we get towards friday. there is a hoe that's gonna develop and push this whole area south. again, .25 to 2.2 plus inches for some a cold system moves in -- a -- for tomorrow. a cold system moves in. 50s on the coast. mid-60s as this system will stall out a little bit. probably won't arrive to the south bay. it will make it all the way down to santa clara valley and the santa cruz mountains. don't look for much of a break here, wednesday, thursday and then really cold air comes in friday and into saturday. that will keep the beat going

for a showery pattern. as you can see, stocks taking a hit this morning. after what's happening in -- after what's happened in japan. the nikkei was down 10.5% today following that 6% drop yesterday. and that's bridging the u.s. markets down significantly of you can see the dow is down 230. nasdaq, down 54. s&p is down 25. one well-known u.s. company will feel an economic pinch after last week's devastating quake and tsunami. starbucks says 100 of its 900 stores there are closed because of quake or tsunami damage. japan is the largest market in asia for starbucks and in 1996, the first store opened in tokyo making it the first starbucks outside north america. and mc donald's says about 300 of its restaurants in japan

are still closed this morning because of damage from the quake. mc donald's has about 3300 stores in that country. the hamburger chain says it will contribute $2 million to help relief efforts. 8:10. because of what's happening in japan, nuclear concerns are on the rise in the u.s. we'll go live to washington, d.c.

good morning. we have cloudy skies over us. thunderstorms going on around sonoma county, especially around cazadero. you can see that area right there. very heavy rain. thunderstorm and lightning right through sonoma county. >> all right of kohl's -- we'll keep an eye on it. thank you. japan's nuclear reactor is prompting new scrutiny of nuclear power in the united states. the energy secretary is testifying about it on capitol hill. let's go to alison burns about what's happening. >> reporter: tori, steven chu was supposed to be testifying

about something else this morning but he's getting bombarded from members of congress who are concerned about the nuclear facilities and nuclear future. there are 104 nuclear reactors in the united states and plans are in the works to build 20 more but now some members of congress want to put the brakes on -- breaks on nuclear power plants, at least until the full extent of the damage in japan is known. second chu says americans should be confident that safety rules are in place at the country's nuclear facilities. >> we clearly consider things like tsunamis and earthquakes and -- >> we've been doing that -- >> we've been doing that all along. >> reporter: now, secretary chu says the obama administration wants nuclear power to be a key component of america's energy future despite the tragedy in

japan. alison burns, ktvu channel 2 news. >> thank you. 8:15. here in california, officials at the state's two nuclear plans are reassuring residents their facilities can withstand large earthquakes. the san onofre plant is in mount diablo county. pg&e says diablo county can handle a 7.5 quake. the operators of san onofre say it can withstand a magnitude of 7 quake. >> we mean the ability to shut it down safely. you are not intending to operate it and protect the public, we can do that. >> both plants are located the right at the specific region. officials in san onofre will meet next month to their over -- to go over their plant

safety. simon winchester says big quakes have hit three of the four corners of the pacifics and since quakes sometimes happen in clusterrer, he says the u.s.'s west coast and california can be next. >> bellingham, washington, portland and then, of course, northern california and san francisco. so people need to be aware -- not -- i i am saying people need to be aware. >> now, he says -- and he points out -- there was a big quake in chile in the southeast corner last year. there was new zealand in the southwest corner last month and then japan in the northwest corner last week. 8:17. libyan leader, moammar gadhafi is now telling rebel leaders trying to overthrow him, they have one choice -- surrender or

flee. in bahrain a soldier was shot and killed. crews arrived to support the monarchky of bau hayne -- bahrain against the demonstrators calling for reform. the king of bahrain declared a -- declared a three-month state of emergency to try to stop the protests. back home, a man is arrested in police custody after a bank robbery in co terra end o -- co door row ended peacefully. he told police at bay for more than six hours. the twin cities police department says it began when the suspect walked into the

bank about 4:30 in the afternoon, took nine people inside with a bb gun. the man eventually allowed everyone to leave and then hostage negotiators allowed him to surrender. police said the man is angry were president obama and the ceo of bank of america for what he's calling inequality in america. investigators are looking for the cause of another fatal tour bus crush in the new york city area. two people were killed when a bus flipped over and crashed on new jersey turnpike last night. 32 people were injured. last night's accident happened after a bus tour in connecticut crashed. sa people -- 15 people were

injured in that accident. the ten-car derailed that outside the area, three people complained of back pain. a b.a.r.t. spokesperson says it could take weeks before an exact cause is pinpointed. we'll tell you about the free services being offered in america to loved ones in japan. good morning. right now, traffic is getting a little bit slow in om sire -- in some areas. but improving in others. we'll give you the complete run- down minutes ahead.

welcome back. california is about to become one of the first states to offer a computerized version of the get test. right now, high school -- ged tests. right now, those tests are taken with pen still and tape -- pencil and paper. computerized tests will be available here in california, georgia, florida, texas and they are hoping to increase that number to 11 states by the end of the year. they say this is to pro -- there is also a new study out

last year that shows most people got their news from the internet than they did the newspapers. that's the first time that's happened, that the web has beat newspapers. and this study indicates when the study is in, online ad will beat as well. the-- two wireless cans are helping people stay in contact with and friends -- with friends and family in japan. residential land line customers are limited to -- to a total of 60 minutes of free calls with at&t. verizon is promising free calls to all customers through april 12th. it's not limiting the amount of time any customers can talk. a san diego man created a

headache to his bank by paying his $6500 credit card bill using all pennies. he tried to deliver a van load of rolled up pennies to several different chase branches but each turned him away because -- because space was limited. he said he was upset with his credit card company because of high fees and was denied refining -- refining. sal, do you have the commute under control? >> it is a little bit of an improvement on the bay bridge but still slow. sanmateo and dumbarton bridge have been slow. it's nice and quiet on the golden gate. so far it's dry on that span. 8:25. let's go to steve. all right, sal. pretty good thunderstorm activity. you can see it over my

shoulder. near ka did door row russian river, you can see the rates moving through right north of guerneville. there's one, that really lit up into lake county. i mean, that is -- if anybody can tweet me, spweather, put this all into motion. you can see there's isolated thunderstorms beginning to move through. that's also starting to move into northern napa county. we'll stop this. stop it and then move it south, here we go. just getting closer to callie zoe bau -- calistoga. two-plus inches are possible in those areas. the north bay takes the brut of it this morning an south by

this evening. system may stall out. .25 to 2 not -- to the north. not so much to the south. here comes our system, it's starting to work its way in. there is a lot of moisture there. 50s so the air mass is already juiced up. the only thing we're missing is really cold air. that's on way starting tomorrow night and taking us into the weekend as the whole plume stars to dive south. cloudy rain. heaviest to the north. to the south, more cloudy, scattered light rain but nothing heavy until later on. os for many or upper 50s -- 60s for many this evening or upper as. no real break. here comes the cold low, friday and saturday. 8:27. we also have verying news. this is coming from the east bay. we're just getting word of a

missing at-risk teenager. >> reporter: educators are holding a so-called day of action. we'll tell you what there asking to you do -- what they're asking you to dole

pretty good thunderstorm rumbled through cazadero and heading to guerneville. i wouldn't be surprised if there's hail in there. hold on a second. hold on a second. heading towards healdsburg, santa rosa, geyserville and also towards clearlake. north bay getting hit pretty

good. we're still following the crisis in japan. right now, dangerous levels of radiation from a nuclear power plant is forcing 140,000 people to stay inside their homes. that order came after a storage pond found inside the -- inside the power plant. our reporter is this tokyo and felt the aftershock there. hee has a first-hand account of what happened. >> reporter: we went to the japan's rail and train stations just to see parts of thezy. it was very -- of the city. it was very crowded. it was rush hour and obviously they've had a lot of disruptions to safety due to power outage and other

disruptions and we did -- we did go to other parts of the city, one of the main areas of chibo. while we were in one of the stations, we ended up meeting a woman from san francisco who had been in japan during the quake. >> even last night i was woken up in the middle of the night with the quake, with the bed shaking. it's sad and also a time -- scary, too. >> reporter: then we came back to the hotel and i was speaking to the producer for the morning show and then the table and computer started swaying back and forth. i looked up at the room, it

turns out the hole room was morning. we had an aftershock that really felt big. i looked at the usgs website and it looks like there were two that were really close together. one that happened at 10:31 this that was a 6.1 magnitude and then a second one that happened at 10:37. just minutes later, that happened closer to the few cue fukushima area. there's a sense of -- you never know when another one is coming and for the people here, that's combined with elevated radiation levels and the shortage of gasoline, milk and groceries due to problems with delivery and others things. we'll be here through the week on the ground in tokyo trying to bring you a sense of what's

going on here. you cans -- you can check our blog out 24/7 online. we'll be updating that regularly. reporting from tokyo, back to you. new this morning we've just learned from fremont police they've issue an alert for a missing girl. they say 17-year-old the girl left home around 7:00 last night to take a walk around her ardenwood neighborhood and failed to return. there's extra concern for her safety because police say the teen has the mental capacity of a 13 or 14-year-old. she's described as 5'2", bea -- weighing 110 pounds, she bass wearing a gray hooded skipped up -- zipped up jacket and blue jeans. if you have information, call

fremont police. police are looking for these two cars, in a the shooling that happened last night -- shooting that happened last night. police say one victim was critically wounded after being shot as many as 12 times. the other four victims are expected to survive. the investigators are still trying to determine the motive but they believe the shooting may be gang-related. 8:34. today, bay area parents and educatessers are calling attention to proposed education budget cut -- budget cutbacks as well as teacher layoffs. christen kafton is in union city with more on what school officials are saying is needed to help schools avoid even deeper cuts. >> reporter: good morning. in just the last half hour, just before school started, educators were bagging out this leaflet that's -- passing out this leaflet. hierable, a news conference was

held in the library at the alvarado school district. get to -- let's go to video. that conference is part of a state-wide day of action with educators trying to raise awareness to struggling school districts. teachers, parents want to decide whether they will extend tax increases. about 60 teachers in the new haven school district in union city have already received layoff notices. >> it's very difficult to get a pink slip this year because we're expecting our first baby and i'm faced with added stress of losing my job. and worrying about not being able to provide for my baby. >> reporter: this morning, the news conference is part of a

coordinated effort to save off school scathe off budget cuts. clearly, there are going to be a lot of developments throughout the course of the day. keep it right here for the very latest details. for now we're live in union city, christen kafton, ktvu channel 2 news. >> thank you. 78:6. well, it's a different story in the san ramon school district. school official -- school officials there decided not to hand out pink slips. we talked to the school district spokesperson to find out how that is possible.

california state health officials are investigating a major security breach that could affect almost million people nationwide. healthnet says several hard drive -- hard drives are missing. those drives contain personal information about individuals but the company has not issued details about who exactly is affected. a state watchdog agency says the breach do affect 600,000 individuals. healthnoeth is contacting the victims and offering free credit report monitoring. the police commission is expected to send the names of three finalists to the mayor, mayor lee. the mayor could make a choice or reject them all and start the process all over. the police commission has interviewed dozens of

candidates. the police chief's job opened up in january when george goes con was named san francisco's new district attorney. weigh tonight to check in with. northboundle -- northbound 880 is slow. let me just move the map. westbound 580, livermore, there's word of caltrans in the two left lanes out there for some reason.

southbound is slow down to fremont. 8:39. let's go to steve. >> sal, thank you. we've some thunderstorms -- rumbling through the northern napa county and lake county. right there i will try to do a fanout on this to see if we can get some time wise direction on this. hold on a second. if you know these areas, it will happen quicker than that. but that's system that's moving in right there. let me get rid of it. come out a littleby. push this -- put this into motion. it went through cazadero. it's now right there, south of heeleds burg and -- healdsburg and as we come out wider, it's gone through. now look at that. you towards lake county, that's just lit up by a christmas tree. see if i can come out wider. try to zoom in a little bit.

and put this into motion to show you what's going -- there it goes. we've had some light bands go through. but this one is imbedded some thunderstorms in it. right now near windsor. we've had reports of thunderstorms and some mod lit to -- moderate to heavy rain as we. that cell is associated with a system, a cold front that's beginning to move its way in. there is a lot of moisture. even if you don't have rain, it will be a cloudy day. the north bay will take the most of this today and then lesser amounts as system stalls out around the north bay. 15, 30-mile-per-hour winds. .25 to 2 plus along with thunderstorms. 50s. i think that rain dropped. 58, though, already in mountain view. there's mild air in place in advance of this plume of

moisture. we're it for a couple of days of a lot clouds and off and on rape. some upper 50s, low 60s. north bay, mid-60s. even though it will be cloudy and we'll get a south wind in advance of the system. looks like a break. and then the cold low dropping in for rain and much cooler temperatures. that's for saturday and sunday. 8:42. a face-to-face meeting with the president. why some very talented students will have a very special audience. live pictures from san francisco right now. a long line outside the apple store. customers are hoping to get their hands on the -- on something that was sold out last weekend.

pretty heavy rain moving through. this is windor handhold the burg. this is the -- windsor and healdsburg. this is the time line, east windsor, coming right over highway 101 and heading towards

callie zoe ga. that's your -- calistoga. i know there's thunder in there. possibility of maybe some hail that's stretched from cazadero to the 101 north of santa rosa. >> okay. japanese authorities are telling residents living near an earthquake-ravaged plant to seal themselves indoors. a power plant released radio activity directly in the atmosphere atmosphere several northern california stores have reportedly sold out the potassium iodine. and pg&e has until later today to prove that pressure levels on its gas pipelines are safe. the deadline is the result of

the deadly explosion in san bruno last september. if pg&e can't proof it's operating gas pipelines safely, it could be heavily penalized. and two uc berkeley graduates accuser of spying in iran will be back in may. shane bauer and josh fa testimony tal pleaded not guilty -- fattal pleaded not guilty. say raw shourd was released -- sarah shourd was released last year and is being tried in absentia. the names of the jurors will be kept secret untille barry bonds' trial is over. bonds is scheduled to go on trial next monday in a federal courtroom in san francisco. he's accused of lying under oath when he testified he never knowingly took steroids.

today, the february reserve could decide to change interest -- the federal reserve could decide to change interest rates. ben bernanke says the fed is taking a broad approach to that and that means food and gasoline prices will be under discussion. the fed does not usually consider those items during policy meetings because they tend to change frequently. demand for the new ipad is still outstripping availability. people lined up with reservations to purchase ipads. this is sa live picture of that line. that's after both stores sold out of ipads on sunday. online orders are also -- are also back locked. there are reports that apple sold as many as 1 million ipads and that's three times the number of original ipads sold during the launch last year. problem of illegal dumping is apparently moving south from

san francisco bayview hunter neighborhood. they contacted us at ktvu and have reported they've been victims of illegal dumping. they came to work to find their loading dock filled with con vicktion debris. >> we were just -- you know, just the fact that somebody could do that at midnight when nobody was here, surprising. >> witnesses say they saw a truck come in twice in less than 15 minutes. they gave that video to city officials who have contacted people believed responsible. but the workers tell us no charges have been filed. and the employees say they have to clean up the mess. the santa clara county -- the santa clara county sheriff's department arrested a drug smuggler in almost $500,000 in meth. officials say they found

methamphetamine in several compartments of this pt cruiser last friday during a traffic stop. they say a woman from see wanna, mexico was the -- from tijuana, mexico was the only person in the car. she was taken to jail. an exclusive secret society has been ordered to come up with tiffs to -- alternatives to its logging plan. a sonoma county judge voted that state officials violated the plan. the sierra club, which filed a lawsuit says the land's old growth, redwoods need to be protected. well, depressed fathers are more likely to resort to spanking their kids. a pediatrician in utah analyzed information on almost 2,000 fathers. according to this study, they

found that 40% of the depressed fathers spanked their children. today, a group of 50 high school seniors including six from right here in the bay area, who will re-- who are really smart kids are gonna meet with president obama at the white house. they are all finalists in the intel science talent search competition. the winner will be announced tonight and will get a $100,000 reward among the bay area students is dornny of danville. remember him? he won national spelling bee in 2007 and he aced a national math competition last year. >> i was looking at the name of project is continued fraction

convergence and linneyier fractions. >> oh, that's easy. >> and the others are -- there's five more from the south bay. we wish them good luck. new numbers on gas prices most drive drivers will find hard to believe. and sal will tell us the latest about some new traffic problems and some areas maybe you should avoid.

live pictures here as the last veteran of world war i is laid to rest. this is where army frank buckles is being memorialized. he died last month at the age of 110. president obama has ordered all government buildings to fly their flags at half-staff today. nasa says there will not be any more comments about a man who died on the space shuttle's launchpad yesterday until an investigation is wrapped you. nasa officials say james vanover fell off the pad while work for a company that contracts with the space agency. they add he worked at the center since the start of the shuttle program. 8:55. tsunami damage at the santa cruz harbor has reportedly grown to $22 million. the harbor will stay closed at least until sunday. however, 14 docks are now open.

that's allowing some of the people are living on their boats to come back. several other docks opt southeast side have limited action -- on the southeast side have limited action between 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. ten other boats are still missing. we're now getting new i images from the crescent city harbor. fish and game says 16 boats sank, almost 50 others were damaged by last week's surge of water there. the harbor itself, virtually destroyed. that's devastated the local fishing industry federal officials will be sending a team later this week with sonar equipment looking for -- looking for those boats. we have pictures of the west coast of hawaii's big island. some homes were taken off their foundations. some hotel lobbies were

flooded. the damage estimate has jumped to tens of millions of dollars. moments ago, triple-a reported gas prices jumped a little -- surged a -- dipped a little bit. that's the first time gas prices have gone down in three weeks. today is ticket 2s-day to the flower and garden show. five lucky winners will take home tickets to the san mateo event center wednesday march 23rd,ened march 27th. for you to enter go to ktvu.com before midnight tonight, scroll down to the ktvu "right now" tab and put in the secret password "carnation." let's check in with sal for the last update on the commute. >> 880 is a mess, second day in a row, it's terrible

northbound. it's beginning to improve. but still quite a slow down on -- but still slowing down. this is the toll plaza. that's improving. let's go to steve. we had some very scattered light rain showers this morning. the front is beginning to make its -- to make its way in back to santa rosa and also sebastopol. it will get here for everyone eventually. if you don't have the rain, the rain moves in the north bay. tonight for everybody, showery, wednesday, thursday and then a cold system. friday and saturday. >> all right. we're not done with winter yet. that will do it for us. thanks for watching. >> bye now.