good morning. we are learning new details about professional surfer who lost his life at mavericks late yesterday. what was happening right before he went under? a radioactive plume is said to be headed toward the west coast. what health experts are saying about the effects on californians. and another attempt to free the prisoners in iran.

that's all ahead here on the ktvu morning news. good morning. thank you for waking up with us on this thursday march 17th, st. patrick's day. i'm pam cook. little chilly out there this morning. let's check in on thewet we are steve paulson. good morning, steve. good morning, pam. it is chilly because skies are clear. it's not something we've said in a while but we do start off with clear skies. 30s are showing up. highs today we'll have sunshine in the morning and clouds coming in. fremont is 661 we have a new lead story. that would be 61 degrees for you good folks in fremont. upper 50s and low 60s. here's sal. steve, right now traffic is moving well on highway 4 coming up to the willow pass grade. so we're off to a very nice start. this is a look at interstate 880 and that traffic is moving along very nicely. now at 4:31 let's go back to pam. thank you, sal. overnight we received sad news involving an accomplished big wave surfer.

ktvu's claudine wong has details of this tragedy that unfolded at the bay area's best known surfing spot. claudine. >> reporter: yes, we're at half- moon bay. i want to direct your attention to the lights behind me. that is an air force base at pillar point. at the very end is where you're going to find mavericks and the big waves. that's where the surfer lost his life yesterday. at this point here's what we know happened, he lives in hawaii. he was staying with a friend in santa cruz and apparently had been surfing all day long. he was out late trying to catch a last set of waves when he got rolled they say. and there was apparently a couple waves that came through. he was under for about 20 minutes before he was pulled from the water about 6:30 last night. he's a professional surfer and this morning we found this interview on the web where he talks about being young and surfing the waves. >> i want to try to get a big barrel every year out here.

i would say flying by the seat of my pants right now. i want to enjoy life and have fun surfing while i'm still young. >> reporter: now, if you take a look at this video on your screen you can see the letters foo. this is video tribute from another surfer from hawaii who died this 1994 also while surfing at maverick. certainly the surfing community mourning the loss. he leaves behind a wife and two young children. hopefully later this morning we'll talk more with folks out here and learn more about the professional surfer. we'll bring that to you coming up. live on half-moon bay, claudine wong, ktvu channel 2 news. a radioactive plume is forecast to hit near alaska today, then southern california tomorrow. scientists say that radiation

will be diluted and would have only extremely minor health consequences. in japan helicopters continue dropping thousands of gallons of sea water in a continuing effort to prevent a meltdown. they're also trying to restore power to the plant so they can reactivate the cooling system. the u.s. government is now chartering airplanes to help u.s. citizens who want to leave japan because of the elevated radiation levels. the state department is offering voluntary evacuations to family members of government employees. well, the fear of radiation is only adding to the daily stress faced by survivors of the earthquake and tsunami in japan. more than 450,000 people are now crammed into temporary shelters. they have no privacy and very few showers and toilets. meantime, rescue crews from around the world continue to help with the search for survivors. >> obviously you can see very,

very difficult conditions. chance of survival are small but we do our best to see if we can get anybody. >> the search and rescue crews help family members looking for loved ones, but the results are often heartbreaking. now to find out how you can help the victims of the earthquake and tsunami in japan, just look on our website at ktvu.com. we do have a link set up under the japan quake tab. it's right on our home page. well, overnight another earthquake hit in the pacific ocean near the island nation of vanuatu. registered as a 6.5 magnitude. the tsunami warning center says there's no danger of a tsunami. no reports of any serious injuries or damages. it's located in the pacific ring of fire though. that's the arc of faults where most of the world's earthquakes and volcanic activity occur. back here in the bay area the city of pinol filling it's

$1.5 million budget gap by making cuts to public safety expenses. last night the city council voted to permanently close one of the two fire stations. it's already closed ten days out of every month. the move will save them $900,000 a year but it worries many people including the fire chief. >> they can be waiting for an additional six to seven minutes for a fire engine. >> very painful. nobody wants to close a fire station. >> the city manager adds 45 city workers have already been laid off to cut $4 million from the budget in the last three years. no firefighters are expected to lose their jobs. the city council also decided to leave any open positions on its police force unfilled. well, this morning a traffic problem near big secure on the coast of the monterey county. a huge stretch of highway 1 near hurricane point is now

closed indefinitely. the chp ordered the closure last night after a massive mud slide took out 40 feet of highway 1 and pushed it right into the pacific ocean. at this point cal trans cannot even allow crews into the area because it's too dangerous. the closure is expected to last at least a few days, possibly much longer. all right. 4:36 is the time. fortunately, sal, that's not a very busy area of highway 101 right -- or highway 1. >> not too busy but it will cause problems. you do get some traffic through there and people will have to use detours. go outside and take a busy section of highway 101 in san francisco. looks good approaching the 80 split. it's a nice drive. westbound bay bridge also looks very nice. today as steve said it's clear. the weather is not wet. northbound 280 traffic is moving along well getting up to highway 17. we're off to a decent start for this thursday morning. at 4:37, let's go to steve. sal, thank you, sir.

good morning, everyone. skies are clear. yes. we've had lows all week long mid-50s, upper 50s, a lot of 30s now. i think you'll notice because that plume of just clouds came up from the southwest just sat there on us for 48 hours has finally drifted south. why? because look at this system digging down out of the gulf of alaska. a very cold dynamic system but it's not due until friday. today though is our between day. we'll get clouds developing in the afternoon but overall highs upper 50s and low 60s. the system that brought us the rain ended yesterday morning and then just kind of hung out most of the day. the wind picked up no doubt about it. you can see the system moving into the north especially up right there. but most of that is drifting east. so if you're maybe northern sonoma possibility of showers. farther south probably more sun. 30s though. santa rosa 37. napa 38. 38 fairfield. 38 livermore. 38 san raphael. don't forget those 30s. 40s for everyone else. and that's a big difference

compared to where we have been all week long. this system is looking better and better with time and it's going to park it right about here and just sit there from about friday there sunday. a cold morning relatively compared to what we've had lately. sunshine and then some clouds popping up. showers north. lows in the 30s though for some especially inland. not on the coast. upper 50s, low 60s for everybody here. little cooler to the north. and then maybe slightly on the mild side to the south. mostly sunny today but then rain and wind move in friday. looks like a cold rainy breezy weekend. maybe a little break on monday but next week looking like more rain as well. >> oh, boy. thank you, steve. well, boxing champ making another attempt to help free the two uc berkeley graduates still held in iran. his wife says he's willing to travel to iran to help win the hikers' release but the trip would depend on the health of her husband who suffers from parkinson's disease. this comes the day after ali revealed he sent a second

letter to iran's supreme leader asking as a fellow muslim to release josh and shane. he has not received a response yet. four new york times journalists are now missing in libya this morning. editors say they last heard from the four on tuesday. the newspaper says if it turns out that the journalists were captured by military forces, the libyan government has promised to release them unharmed. meantime, supporters of a no- fly zone over libya are calling for a security council vote today. resolution is designed to prevent aerial attacks on the libyan people. secretary of state hillary clinton says she won't continue in her job even if president obama wins re-election next year. she does not want to keep the position she now holds past next year. she also adds she's not interested in running for president or vice president either. the survivor of a brutal attack speaks out.

>> so i said. [ indiscernible ] >> the ordeal she went through and the man police are now searching for. using certain atms is about to cost more. the experiment by one bank that could continue to get even more expensive. good morning san francisco bridge drivers. traffic looks good as you head to the high-rise. another update on the morning commute straight ahead.

good morning. skies are mostly clear. at least over the bay area. and temperatures in the 30s and 40s. to the north we'll see some clouds and possible showers coming in especially authority of sonoma county. but for the rest of the bay partly cloudy, upper 50s low 6 0z. thank you, steve. a richmond woman who survived a brutal attack is now asking for the public's help to find a man who she says beat her, slit her throat and left her for dead. the attack near 23rd street happened on february 5th. she says a man she knew from the neighborhood came into her home looking for money and attacked her. she managed to crawl outside to get help but tells us at one point she thought she wasn't going to make it. >> so i said today i will die. no more me. >> here is a police sketch of the suspect. he's described as african-

american, about 5 feet to 6 feet tall. he spoke frequently about his mother and thought to have mental issues. state lawmakers will reconvene today to take up two contentious elements of the governor's budget proposal. yesterday both houses approved massive cuts to state welfare programs and services for the developmentally disabled. the reductions are expected to help close the state's $26 billion deficit. on the agenda for today is whether to eliminate the state's redevelopment agencies and the issue of a special election to extend incomes and vehicle taxes. the university of california is warning students to brace for more tuition hikes. regents learned the ten campus system could lose up to $1 billion in state funding if the governor's tax extensions are not approved. uc president says such drastic cuts would also lead to layoffs and reduced enrollment. now regents wrapped up their three day meeting today in san

francisco, but it will be a few months before any budget decisions are made. uc workers picketed in san francisco and berkeley yesterday. they say the university has failed to fully fund their pensions. and they say a proposed increase in employee health care premiums would work out to a 10% pay cut. >> i like working for uc, but i'm tired of seeing the executives vote themselves bonuses while they're asking the lowest wageworkers to take cuts. >> some californians may not be sympathetic for public employees. a new field poll shows 42% of voters think public pensions are too generous. still 50% of people surveyed said they would not take away collective bargaining rights from public employees. jp morgan chase is testing an increase in fees for people who use its atms who are not

chase customers. now the bank is charging all out of network users $4 to use its atms in texas and $5 in illinois. that's up from $3. and if people don't steer clear because of the higher fees, chase is expected to charge even higher fees nationwide. that could lead to other banks following suit. san francisco police are searching for the criminals behind a string of thefts targeting storage lockers. police say burglars have broken into eleven storage lockers at public storage on marin street. this is surveillance video of the woman who police believe is the ring leader. the woman's name hasn't been released, but police say she has ties to daly city. >> ring extends down to los angeles or up to sacramento. >> the woman rented a storage locker and used it to store the stolen items. investigators do not believe she worked alone. they are also searching for

several male accomplices who are suspected of stealing more than 100 items. pg&e could face fines of up to $1 million a day for missing a deadline to turn in some key documents to the state's safety commission. the cpuc requested the documents following last year's deadly pipeline explosion in san bruno. pg&e did turn over thousands of documents, but the commission says it did not produce records for pipelines under some of the largest cities. the puc is expected to vote on the fines next thursday. the crisis in japan is now sparking new food safety concerns here in the united states. there's been some worries over whether food imported from japan has been exposed to harmful radiation. the world health organization says there has been no evidence of contamination outside of japan. one doctor from san francisco says it's not just the radiation though that can harm the food chain. >> when you take all of human's

waste -- that means houses, toxic waste, dumping grounds and throw it into the ocean and mix it up, you're going to have some contamination. it's going to take us a while to figure out how much and how long it's going to stay. >> 4% of the u.s. food supply comes from japan. the fda has screening plans in place though to make sure that food is safe. cracking down on people celebrating st. patrick's day. the measures being taken and what drivers can do to get home safely even if they've had too much to drink. and discouraging words from an urban california basketball team for many of its fans.

well, there's something in the water. here's a live look at the white house on this st. patrick's day morning with the water in the

white house fountain dyed green. it's a tradition that president obama and first lady michelle obama brought from chicago where the chicago river is dyed green every year on st. patrick's day. later today the president will attend the annual st. patrick's day lunch at the capitol along with the prime minister of ireland. well, the california highway patrol and police around the bay area are warning drivers not to celebrate st. patrick's day with too much to drink. there will be drunk driving check points in several cities in every bay area county and across the state tonight. st. patrick's day usually ranks among the top ten days of the year for drunk driving arrests. now drivers who do have a bit too much to drink can still get home safely without fear of arrest or worse. burg injury lawyers are sponsoring its annual safe and sober cab ride home. san francisco, berkeley and alameda can call a cab to get home and the law firm will pick up the tab as much as $35 of

the fare that is. and triple a of northern california is offering free towing of up to five miles to everyone who has had too much to drink. today the judge in the barry bonds perjury case will review several final legal issues before the start of next week's trial. yesterday prosecutors released transcripts of voice mail messages bonds left for his former mistress during their long relationship. most show bonds angerly demanding to know kimberly bell's whereabouts. prosecutors say the recordings are evidence of so-called roid rage. bonds' attorneys say they're simply lover spats caught on tape. city of san francisco and the 49ers are inching closer to a deal that would end their long legal battle. it would allow the 9ers to leave candle stick park as soon as 2014 and possibly move south to santa clara. in exchange the agreement would stop the 49ers from pursuing a $60 million claim over the run down conditions at candle

stick. san francisco is still fighting to save the 9ers and have them play at a new stadium not far from candle stick. well, the sacramento kings have taken another step toward a possible move to southern california. the kings have now filed papers with the u.s. patent office paving the way for an official nba name change. the names requested are the anaheim royals, the anaheim royals of southern california, the orange county royals and the los angeles royals. now the kings are threatening to move out of sacramento mostly because of the city's refusal to build a publicly financed arena. 4:54 is the time. let's check in with sal for a look at traffic this morning. all right. pam, right now traffic is moving along pretty well around the bay area westbound. no major problems here at the toll plaza. and if you're driving to interstate 880, that's a nice looking drive as well. no major issues here. if you can see, the traffic continues to look good on bay

area freeways. on highway 17 northbound it's a nice drive coming into the santa cruz mountains all the way down to the south bay. 4:54. let's go to steve. sal, they'll be the anaheim royals because they were originally the rochester royals and the cincinnati royals. they're going back full circle. we have a clear morning. no, really. but there's a little system to the north. it's not doing much but if you're up towards northern sonoma county into lake county little system clipping there to fort brag. it's going to stay there. there's not much there. today we start off clear. partly cloudy will be the end result. sunshine here in the morning. maybe some north bay showers. i say that in case you're watching up there since i tend to forecast all the way to the oregon border. friday looks like an interesting day. rain, wind, cooler, colder. in fact, this system coming down i'll show it to you in just a second. leading edge is right there. right there. now the system that's going by to the north is definitely focusing most of its energy to the north. but if you're up around cape

northern sonoma coast you can see there's a little going on. 30s and 40s though. we haven't had 30s in a long time. north bay, santa rosa 36. san raphael 38. 30s livermore. redwood city holding onto 40. 46 in san francisco. this system is diving down. this is a very cold dynamic system. this is going to give us pretty good rains moving in on friday. not today. unless you're points north from that guy zipping by to the north. sunshine in the morning and partly cloudy skies in the afternoon. but it's a cold morning out there. sunny then clouds. showers to the north and then mostly cloudy and cool also as you move north as well. but overall we get a break today. a cold morning. sun then clouds. lows in the 30s as you saw. so little chill in the morning air my friends. that will give way to upper 50s and low 60s. temperatures have settled back down after we had a really balmy day on what was it tuesday? that's not the case. that moisture plume has moved south. cool air moved in. but friday, saturday and sunday rain, cold, lower snow levels

and i think you'll notice the temperatures will take a pretty good plunge there, pam. all right. thank you, steve. well, life expectancy in the u.s. has hit an all time high. according to the centers for disease control and prevention it is now up to about 78 years and two months for all americans born in 2009. now for white men, it's 75 years seven months. white women life expectancy is 80 years six months. african-american men life expectancy is 70 years nine months. african-american women 77 years four months. a professional surfer has died in the big waves of mavericks. the unusual sequence of events that turned his ride treacherous. it's not expected to be dangerous, but a radioactive plume is apparently headed west. what it means for california.

good morning. in japan helicopters are still dumping sea water on an earthquake damaged nuclear plant. the other efforts underway to prevent a meltdown. >> reporter: new information about the death of a big wave surfer at mavericks. what the conditions were at pillar point when he went under. and what he said in the recent