morning news. good morning to you. welcome to a brand new day. tuesday march 29th. i'm dave clark. good morning. i'm pam cook. we are following breaking news right now. we understand there's a fire in newark near cherry. and we're taking a live look here. news chopper 2 over the scene. you can see a huge amount of water hitting that again. this is near morris and cherry in newark. we have a crew on the way to the scene. we're going to bring you the very latest information. that's all we know right now, but you can see a huge response to this fire. and, again, news chopper 2 getting these shots for us again. this is breaking news. we understand that this is possibly a refinery fire and that it is in newark near cherry. we do have a crew on the way. >> the crew is on the scene.

sal, i know you're picking up more information about this don't you? yeah. you know this smoke will be visible from highway 84 and possibly from highway 880. you'll also notice if you live in newark there's a big response. a lot of times people do get worried when they hear the sirens heading down to this part of town in newark. so it's going to be plainly obvious that something is going on in newark. and, again, since it's dark traffic will not be able to see the smoke. this was reported just a while ago. and the firefighters are on the scene. evergreen oil is the same facility that a little while back al gore visited you remember when he came to the bay area and was there for a press event. a lot of people know this is on smith avenue in newark. and right now we're not getting through to the phone obviously they're not picking up the phone. so we're trying to find out more information. we do have a crew on the way. ktvu's news chopper 2 is showing us these live pictures. again, it's unclear whether or not people can see the smoke

because it's dark, but definitely as the sun comes up if there's fire still going on it will be visible from the nearby freeways. >> just to let you know, we have not confirmed whether or not that is in fact evergreen refinery, but given the address, that is the assumption being made at this point because the address is at cherry and smith in newark and that's where that evergreen refinery is located. so, again, we're going to have more information for you. news chopper 2 over the scene. sal is getting new information hopefully soon. we do have a reporter and crew on the way to the scene. so we'll bring you the very latest as soon as we can. >> absolutely. for all over breaking news and our time is now 6:02. meantime a saturated hillside is making a big mess in one hercules neighborhood. now several homes there are red tagged. ktvu's kraig debro is live in front of one of those red tagged homes right now. and the water is flowing out of the garage. >> reporter: yeah, good morning, dave. we're on carson street in the

city of hercules. behind me is one of the red tagged homes. this home -- we're in front of a different home than we were an hour ago but you can still see water on the driveway flowing out from behind the home. the deluge that started a week ago is showing no signs of slowing down. it's so bad that the water coming out from behind the garage door here. crews are due out this morning to construct barricades in back of some of the homes. the city red tagged four homes last week. the problem is the sliding hillside above the homes. according to a published report the earth has already slid into one home and broken some windows at that home. the barricades are supposed to protect homes from further movement. and just yesterday the city yellow tagged four more homes. yellow tagged meaning they can come and leave and retrieve property but not supposed to spend the night. utilities have been disconnected to the red tagged homes. tonight the city council is set to declare whether or not they're going to have to

declare an emergency up here. now on this particular home you can't see it but the other home we were in front of about an hour ago doing some sandbags that have been placed there from the sliding hillside that happened in the 90s. so some of these people were either in the homes then or perhaps knew about the problem way back as far as the 90s goes. the home still standing from then. but this could be a different story. reporting live, kraig debro, ktvu channel 2 news. all right. we want to go back to our breaking news right now. news chopper 2 over the scene of this fire where you can see there's a huge response. this is in newark at cherry and smith. and i understand we have one of our viewers on the phone, steven, who just drove by that area. can you hear us, steven? >> yes, i can hear you. >> so tell us what you know about that area and what you saw as you drove through. >> noticed some kind of

chemical plant processing there. and when i drove by i seen the whole sky lit up and flames shooting over top of the plant police cars coming from all directions. >> how about traffic in the area? it looks like right now there is a huge emergency response there. >> well, when i went through there there was no traffic at all. i think i was like the only person out on the road. >> steven, let me ask you this, are you riding with your windows up or down? do you smell anything in the air that possibly could be chemically related? >> you know, i didn't smell anything at the time. i don't know if the fire just exploded when i went by. there was nothing in the air at the time. >> now when you say there was an explosion, did you hear the sound? what did that sound like? >> i didn't hear an explosion, but i seen it was like flames shoot up real high probably maybe 50 feet up in the air and sparks coming from everywhere.

>> all right. certainly we understand that this is possibly a recycling refinery sort of a plant. so we would imagine that certain activity you see do you normally drive in that area? do you know what it usually looks like at that point? >> i live about four blocks from there. so it's just usually really quiet. you don't see any kind of smoke or flames or anything coming out. >> now we know it's early in the morning. any signs of evacuations taking place or what appears to be blocked off? have you seen any sign of either one of those things? >> no. there was nothing blocked off when i went by. i could have went right up to the plant. >> how close to you live? have you been in contact with anybody else who you perhaps live with or nearby. >> i've been trying to get hold of my wife but she's not answering the phone. we only live about four blocks away. >> okay. you don't know if there's any kind of shelter in place or anything that's been issued?

>> no. >> okay. all right. steven, one of our viewers on the phone who just drove by that area. thank you so much for that information. if you do hear from your wife or new information please give us a call back. again, he's commenting on this fire and this huge emergency response. again we're looking at live pictures from news chopper 2. possibly it looks like evergreen refinery. i'm hearing also word that it's possibly a recycling plant. and also one of our editors lives not far from there. there's an elementary school not far from there. certainly we've been talking about a lot of smoke and flames. we don't know if that's effecting the air quality. >> or the city of newark is what we're focusing on. we'll have more details as soon as we have them in. all right. again, i just heard it's bunker elementary school. in case you know of that area or your children go there, be aware that that could be affected today. well, in other news this

morning, the recent rain is making it hard for some bay area residents to get to and from their homes. ktvu channel 2 reporter jade hernandez. >> reporter: we're about a mile and a half from the mud slide. we can't get there because of the barricades right here road closed. just beyond them a small bulldozer. at the end of this road is canyon county park. the slide happened saturday night or early sunday morning there. the santa clara county road department received a report about the mud slide sunday morning around 8:00. authorities say that the small swedish american community is trapped since the road is inaccessible to visitors. a resident told the morgan hill times that it coffered about 40 to 50 yards of the road and up to 150 residents of the community were cut off trapped in or out. we understand no one was hurt during the slide which took out trees and power lines. no significant property damage. it's extremely quiet out here this morning.

and only one of two drivers we've seen out here so far just happened to be delivering newspapers. that man lives in morgan hill and heard about the mud slide over the weekend. he didn't think he could get through but had to try anyway. >> well, i just went to work this morning and my boss told me -- actually i told him that the road was closed yesterday. and he told me that at least half of it should be open today. so i came to check it out. and here i am. here you are. [ laughter ] >> reporter: we understand this morning pg&e was the first out here to move the lines which downed trees took out over the weekend. as of monday morning crews hadn't yet started cutting the fallen trees out of the way. as you can see there are road closure barricades right here at quarry road. we understand we're about a mile and a half out from the mud slide. and about 150 people are still trapped not able to use this road. reporting live, jade hernandez, ktvu channel 2 news.

time now 6:09. this morning a name very known to bay area baseball fans will take the witness stand in the barry bonds perjury trial. prosecutors will call former oakland a's super star jason giambi. he's expected to testify that he received steroids from barry bonds' former trainer greg anderson. yesterday bonds' former girlfriend spent most of the day on the witness stand. she testified that barry bonds confessed to her that he was just one of many players using steroids to make it big in big league baseball. bell also gave graphic testimony about the drastic changes she saw in barry bonds' body and in his behavior. doctors say are consistent with steroid use. you can get updates on the barry bonds case at any time by going to our channel 2 website at ktvu.com. just go to the home page. all right. it's 6:10. we want to go back over to sal this morning. i don't know if you've gotten anymore information on that fire in newark. >> well, one of the things we

do know, pam, is the fire in newark is close to 880 near maori avenue and on the west side of 880. these are pictures from news chopper 2 right over the scene here. so as the person who called we had a viewer who just called in case you're just joining us and told us that he heard that there's a huge response and we are seeing that. just a lot of sirens, a lot of people showing up to this area. this is on smith road at cherry road in newark nearby some elementary schools. news chopper 2 will stay on the scene and we will have a crew on the way. as soon as they arrive we'll get reports from the ground there. but it is so far dark. the smoke is rising but it's not -- it's pretty close to highway 880 interstate 880 and highway 84 it is not causing a traffic issue but certainly people in the neighborhood are aware that something is going on. it's a pretty wide closure as news chopper 2 pulls back you can see all the response here.

they're wait out at the intersections here. and they're keeping people far back. our crews are on the way. our news chopper 2 is there on the scene. move to the toll plaza westbound traffic is moving along welcoming into san francisco with no major issues. interstate 880 continues to be okay. southbound and northbound right near the coliseum. at 6:11, here's steve. very good morning to you all. yesterday -- boy, that sun there was nice compared to last week and the wind and rain. not this week. this week it's other end of the spectrum. now today we have the higher clouds to deal with. tomorrow though looks really good for warmer weather. and especially on thursday. high clouds 40 to 50 on the lows. by noon we'll see a mostly sunny, partly cloudy skies. 56, 6 4 combination of higher clouds coming by, mostly sunny by 4:00. 60 to 70 heading to the coliseum tonight mostly clear, few high clouds. it will be all right. breezy outside as you're walking in but inside should be just fine. oakland downtown looking for a

high of $64. combo of clouds and sun. 47, 54 and then 64. higher clouds just associated with a weak system that's to the north. and it's giving some rain up around crescent city. that's about it. we're on the southern edge of it. the clouds coming down have retained a little heat. lows are not as cold. 30s yesterday, that's not the case this morning. right there near eureka, crescent city, oregon border. low 40s to upper 40s. napa, santa rosa 42. livermore 43. san jose 4r5. speaking of livermore go 42 for a low and then we'll do 60 and then 68 for a high later today. high temperatures though will continue to be held in check due to these higher clouds coming in. but once that part goes through, these clouds will stay way to the north. and the high really kicks in. that will be tomorrow. today is just slight. i think you'll really notice it on wednesday and thursday. as we mentioned upper 70s and

low 80s could mean possible record highs toward the end of the week. little warmer today. mild temps, north bay few more clouds than anybody else. low 60s, mid-60s around coast and bay. upper 60s. a few low 70s. might be a little ahead of myself but go with it for now. a lot of 60s in between. sunny and warmer weather wednesday and thursday, most of friday and cool it down into the weekend. a lot of clouds and more of a westerly wind. all right. thank you, steve. 6:13 is the time. we do continue our breaking news this morning in newark. live pictures from news chopper 2. we're getting more information about evergreen oil. they take in used oil and recycle it from gas stations, individuals, so this could be a very messy dirty oil fire there. again, evergreen refinery. cherry and smith in newark. we'll be back with more.

welcome back to the morning news. we continue to cover this fire, this plant fire. evergreen recycling. they're one of the largest hazardous waste management companies in california. i was looking at their website information. it looks like mostly they handle used oil and possibly refine it, recycle it, but, again, this is in newark.

these are live pictures from news chopper 2 where there is a huge fire in that area. a huge emergency response. >> yeah. >> so traffic certainly effected in that immediate neighborhood. we have not heard about any air quality possibly could be effected. we do know that bunker elementary school is just about a quarter mile away from what we understand from people who live in that area. so that also could be effected this morning. i'm hoping we're getting -- we're going to be able to talk to some emergency management people. you've got a chemical plant or where chemicals are stored and a big fire is occurring. and it's been -- the weather has changed so we don't have a lot of blowing wind. so you have air that could be even stagnant which could be even more dangerous to nearby homes and even that school. we haven't heard of any injuries yet, but that's got to be a concern. and hopefully as we watch these pictures from news chopper 2 they're really working on a particular area pretty hard as you can see in these pictures right now. the air quality has to be a major concern. we have a crew on the way

to the scene. so hopefully we will hear directly from some of those emergency responders there at the scene. stay with us. we will bring the very latest information as soon as it becomes available. well, world leaders are meeting in london this morning to make plans for what's next in libya including the formal handover control of military action to nato. ktvu's scott mcfarland is in our washington d.c. newsroom with more on that story. scott. >> reporter: nato is overseeing the air strikes in libya now and the no-fly zone over libya. nato leaders part of the summit with secretary of state clinton in london talking about what to do and who gets control if gadafi chooses to flee. here in washington today there's certain to be debate over whether the president did enough and should have shifted control to nato. >> we will deny the regime arms, cut off its supplies of cash, assist the opposition and work with other nations to hasten the day when gadafi

leaves power. >> to say regime change is not going to take place by force, i certainly can't agree with it. he's a danger to the world. >> reporter: rebel leaders say the air strikes have helped them make big inroads. and nato now formally overseeing the air strikes. live in washington d.c., ktvu channel 2 news. time now 6:19. check in with sal. you have a lot to talk about this morning with our commute, sal. that's right. one of the things we are going to talk about is so far this fire that we're following in the refineries not effecting the traffic on interstate 880 and highway 84. you may be wondering about that. this is a look at the bay bridge toll plaza. that traffic looks okay coming in to san francisco. by the way, if you're driving on 880, the traffic there is also looking okay driving past the coliseum and heading on south. also this morning we're looking at 280 northbound. that traffic is moving well heading up to highway 17. so so far we're starting off

pretty well, but, again, we are following that breaking news. more on that from the scene in newark in just a moment. let's go to steve. all right. high clouds, temperatures in the 40s to start off with. it will be partly cloudy, partly sunny today. temperatures just coming up a little bit. tomorrow we will start to warm it up. we have -- there you can see some of the band of higher clouds. get to computer and show the satellite system which shows higher clouds streaming over from the northwest. 42 to about 48 degrees covers the spread top to bottom here. and west to east. wouldn't look for these to cool off much more. once the system zips on by high pressure's just going to kick in in a big way tomorrow. fair skies, mild temps, slightly warmer, maybe a few more clouds towards the north bay. low 6 0z, mid-60s a couple low 70s. tomorrow we'll see some low 70s and maybe upper 70s to 80 by thursday. friday still mild to warm. saturday and sunday we will cool down with an increase in some clouds. pam and dave. all right. thank you, steve. 6:21 the time. we'll be back with more on our

breaking news this morning. again, as we take a look from news chopper 2 over evergreen refinery. it's a waste management, waste collection of oil there in newark at cherry and smith. stay with us. we'll be right back.

good morning. right now there is a refinery fire in newark. you may have heard all the commotion. if you're just joining us this two-alarm fire at the evergreen oil refinery in newark. it is west of interstate 880 and south of highway 84. the smoke is still rising. large response from the fire department. however, we have been getting word now that there is containment here. ktvu does have a reporter on the way and should be arriving shortly to speak with the people who have responded to this fire. right now the news chopper 2 showing us these pictures of smoke. appears not to be as much as when we first got there. again, more on this straight ahead. all right. our time is now 6:25. oakland police chief has called a news conference for 11:00 this morning. the chief is expected to talk publicly about the growing number of complaints about

alleged low morale in his police department. some veteran police officers say morale has hit rock bottom. the police union is blaming several factors including layoffs, retirements and defections. >> how many bowl you say are even thinking about leaving? >> i would not be surprised if we had 50 to 100 police officers thinking about leaving. lateral to other police agencies. >> now the police union says oakland police are overworked and they're understaffed. and they say they get little support from city hall. now the mayor's office is telling us at ktvu that the city is in negotiations with the police union so they won't comment on staffing issues. they say that would be inappropriate. in japan today the situation at the nuclear power plant is being called grave after confirming that highly toxic plutonium is seeping into the soil. plutonium was detected but

plant operators say the amount of plutonium in the soil is not a risk to humans at this point. but they do say the discovery is another indication that radioactive water is leaking from the plant. san francisco joined 160 other cities across the country last night to hold a vigil to show support for the people of japan. [ applause ] >> photographs were taken of the messages for the japanese people. they will be compiled and put on the internet. the stand for japan campaign also raised money to send to the victims of the earthquake and tsunami. all right. we want to continue our breaking news coverage in newark this morning where we are covering this fire at evergreen refinery. it takes in waste management of used oil, refines it. the plant's known for making use and recycling oil but again you can see live pictures from

news chopper 2. they are tackling this fire this morning. that's at cherry and smith. we'll be right back with more.

welcome back to the morning news. there's the opening bell live in new york this morning where there's some mixed economic news this morning. sad news though, home prices falling in most major u.s. cities. lowest point some of them in eleven years. not a huge surprise but of course not great news to be received on wall street this morning. we'll see what happens as that filters in to trading floor. good morning to you. thank you for joining us here on the ktvu morning news tuesday march 29th. i'm dave clark. good morning. i'm pam cook. time now 6:30. want to go back out to news chopper 2 this morning. breaking news in newark where

there is a refinery fire of sorts. we've been talking about this as evergreen oil. they take in hazardous waste oil from gas stations, service stations and individuals as well as antifreeze and they recycle it and reuse it. there's a fire there. so, of course, that means there's toxic waste there at this plant. >> look at where the water's focused now. >> sal, i know you've been following this as well. traffic in the immediate area certainly effected because there's a huge response. what about the nearby freeways. >> fortunately the nearby freeway is not effected. it's just far away enough from interstate 880 although it is pretty close and people might be able to see the smoke. but certainly not effecting the freeway. thornton avenue is one of the major streets nearby. and so is newark boulevard, cherry street does run into central avenue which is another major street in the area. however, this is at cherry street and smith at the end. and evergreen oil is the last facility at the end of that

road. it touches up on the bay there. there's some other businesses around there. there's a paper company and there's also a freight company there. so they will be effected. however, the main roads there are still getting by. the closure is right at smith. the homes on the other side of cherry there are not going to be affected. in fact, about the only thing that we've gotten response from here is people who hear the news choppers and heard the sirens. so they know that something is going on. but right now it's not effecting the roads. >> sal, have you heard from any viewers? i know we're hoping that people living in the area can let us know anything that they hear about the air quality in particular there. >> yeah. i haven't gotten any e-mails about that. steve was just here in the studio with me saying that the air is still. steve will talk about that in just a while. but that's actually helping us out. the air's not being blown anywhere. of course we don't know if this air is hazardous or not. one of our reporters is arriving on the scene now.

and we'll talk with the first responders to get a gauge on air quality. but right now it doesn't seem to be according to steve blowing much farther from the area. >> hey, sal? >> yes, sir. >> i've looked at observations from miles canyon, union city and fremont and it's all less than 2 miles an hour. >> that's good news for this kind of thing right? >> yes, correct. >> all right. well, again, sal just mentioned we do have a crew there hoping to hear from emergency response as soon as possible. also one of our viewers if you live there in the newark area and you can call us or e-mail or tweet either steve or sal and i and give us what information you might have in that area. but, again, we hopefully will hear from our reporter who is on the scene there. we have live pictures news chopper 2. you can still see it's a huge response and a very big fire from what it looks like there this morning in newark. a crumbling hillside in hercules has forced several families from their homes.

ktvu's kraig debro is now live with more on what's happening in this neighborhood and how maybe people are getting some help, kraig. >> reporter: good morning, pam. now that the sun's starting to come up we can show you a little bit more how the earth is effecting some of these homes. look at the fence right up against this one home how the earth has pushed the fence against the home. and then if you walk down the street and look underneath the tree you can see a more dramatic view of what's happening here. down under here through the tree you can see the earth has been sliding down here. they've even tried to put some sticks or some wood up against the earth and up against the home to see if they can stave off the inevitable here. and right next to this there's still a little bit of water coming out from underneath the garage door. this morning crews are set to bring in barricades to try to shore up the homes here on carson street in hercules. right now four homes are red tagged meaning no one can enter and three are yellow tagged meaning people are being advised not to sleep there

according to a police officer we spoke to this morning. and none are. the reason behind the red tag in the hillside of course sliding into homes. in fact, the earth already damaged those homes' foundations effecting the windows and breaking -- effecting the foundations and breaking windows. the city red tagged the homes back on the 22nd of march. crews disconnected utilities that day as a safety precaution. that also assures that no one can live in the homes. this isn't the first time the homes here have been threatened. last time was back in the 90s. been trying to speak to police and homeowners all morning long. unfortunately obviously these people red tagged homes aren't here. pretty slow this morning people across the street not up just yet. still trying to reach city officials. reporting live in hercules, kraig debro, ktvu channel 2 news. all right. time now 6:35. the santa cruz county board of supervisors holds an emergency session tonight. it's all in response to a week of devastating rains, flooding and mud slides all over the

county. now the board will vote on declaring a local state of emergency. they'll ask for financial help from the state and federal government. the long list of storm problems include this very disastrous flooding and a big mud slide in scott's valley. in just about 30 minutes at 7:00 a supreme court hearing a decade in the making will finally start. at issue is a gender discrimination lawsuit against wal-mart and whether it should be given class action status. stay with us here on the ktvu morning news because coming up in about ten minutes we're going to go back to our washington d.c. newsroom for more on today's hearing. well, the testimony continues this morning in the murder trial of the man accused of ordering the killing of an oakland journalist. chauncey bailey's confessed killer will be on the witness stand once again. at yesterday's hearing he testified that bay ordered him to kill bailey. he also says bay ordered him to kill another man out of revenge.

on the stand yesterday he started laughing as he described that man trying to run away when he leveled his assault rifle. a jury found a san mateo teenager guilty on five of seven felony counts. but today they will resume deliberations on the remaining two. alexander detonated two pipe bombs in august of 2009. the jury found him guilty on fife counts including the attempted murder of his former chemistry teacher. the jury deadlocked on the other two charges. a second phase of that trial still has to be held to determine his sanity. time now 6:37. new reports this morning that show support for the san jose sharks could land you on the wrong side of a gang war. that's according to san jose police who say some gangs in the area wearing sharks team colors and jerseys. police say the two largest gangs in san jose usually wear the colors red and blue to set them apart.

but now gangs from both sides are using the sharks to claim san jose as their own. >> both wearing from time to time wearing paraphernalia to kind of distinguish what they're representing. >> now police say there have been shootings and violence involving gang members wearing sharks gear. now some san jose schools are considering banning students from wearing sharks jerseys and hats. two contra costa county sheriff deputies are on administrative leave this morning after one of them shot and killed a man in pittsburgh. 24-year-old johnny was pulled over early yesterday morning. authorities say a struggle started and one of the deputies reached into his car and tried to remove the keys from the ignition. deputies say johnny drove away with the deputy partially inside the car and that's when another deputy opened fire killing him. our time is now 6:38. a lot to talk about in your commute. and sal's got all the details. sal. all right. we're looking at all the

commutes including the one on highway 24 getting up to the tunnel. looks pretty good so far if you are driving up to the oakland side no major problems in contra costa county. highway 4 of course is busy in antioch of the. we're going to let you know that traffic on antioch is going to be slow. also the morning commute looks good if you are driving at the bay bridge toll plaza there's a little bit of a delay here but it's not a huge one getting into san francisco. and this morning's drive is okay on northbound 280 getting up to highway 17. 6:39. let's go to steve. very good morning. a lot of high clouds. still be partly sunny but temperatures held in check slightly warmer as these higher clouds come down. high pressure make no mistake about it is beginning to show itself tomorrow. today's forecast we have some higher clouds, 40 to 50 on the lows. cooler if we didn't have the higher clouds. 56, 64 by noon. clouds and sun. then go mostly sunny, maybe a few high clouds partly cloudy

by noon. 60 to 70. any sun at all we'll get in the upper 60s and 70s. heading to the coliseum tonight mostly clear. maybe higher clouds. should be just fine. game time temperature at 56 degrees. and temperatures will be in the 60s and 70s after everything said and done. downtown oakland # land going for a high of 64 degrees. again combination of some clouds and sunshine. these higher clouds putting their mark on us right now. you can see how they just scoot on down from the northwest associated with a weak system up in the northwest part of the state. has produced some light rain near eureka and crescent city. we're on the extreme southern edge of this. 42 napa and santa rosa both 37 at this time yesterday. 43 redwood city. 43 livermore. 45 san jose. speaking of livermore we will go for 42 to start and 60 and a high of 68 degrees. so temperatures are getting there after this system right there goes through and the next one looks awesome. it's going way to the north. that's going to give us a much warmer pattern. today it's kind of in between.

we still get mild temperatures but higher clouds will hold things off. but then by wednesday and thursday possibility of record highs of upper 70s to near 80. little warmer but still higher clouds will be there. low 60s mid-60s. a couple low 70s antioch and brentwood. if the clouds clear for an hour or two we'll make it. it will be close today. we'll have sunshine and warmer weather no doubt about it thursday into friday. it will cool down though on the weekend as a weak system comes in and we get more of a west wind. pam and dave. thank you, steve. we are continuing to follow breaking news in newark this morning. news chopper 2 over head of the fire at evergreen. and we understand our reporter ktvu's allie rasmus is just about five minutes away. so hopefully we'll get some new information from the scene, but we do understand that there are some roads that are blocked in that immediate vicinity. we can see as the sun's coming up now we get a better picture of how big this fire is and how much they have it contained.

getting our first daylight pictures of this refinery in newark. it's the evergreen oil refinery where there has been a fire this morning. we're getting word that the fire is now contained. ktvu news is there with news chopper 2. we're also on the ground speaking to witnesses.

there was a large response here. and fire crews are still on the scene. several streets in the area are blocked at newark. we'll get you more on this straight ahead. thank you, sal. in just about 15 minutes at 7:00 the supreme court will begin hearing arguments in a long legal battle pitting women against wal-mart. we're now talking about what's at stake in this case. >> reporter: well, this could set an unbelievable precedent for american businesses and employees. this is a huge case, a huge civil rights case. and there is a significant unbelievable amount of money related could be on the line for wal-mart. may recall this started with a group of female employees claim they were paid less than their male counterpart and repeatedly passed over for promotions. so the women are seeking a class action for all wal-mart worker and that's where the supreme court comes in today. justices will not be deciding

the merits of their case, just whether they can bring a class action lawsuit. and if they can, the outcome could cost wal-mart billions of dollars. wal-mart says there is no pattern of discrimination if the cases are isolated and a ruling in this case is expected in june. lots of eyes on the supreme court today as opening arguments begin. and we also expect to hear either before or after the opening arguments from betty duke. she is the initial plaintiff in the case who started this lawsuit as you know back in california in 2001. back to you guys. well, after more than 20 years in prison, 43-year-old maurice caldwell is waking audiotape free man this morning. yesterday at 5:00 caldwell was released from the san francisco county jail after a judge overturned his murder conviction. now he was convicted of second- degree murder for the shooting death back in june of 1990. now after two decades in jail,

a nevada prison inmate has confessed to that crime and more witnesses have come forward. >> i feel bad, you know what i'm saying for their loss. after all these years they thought they had justice but it wasn't. unserved justice. still unserved justice. >> prosecutors in the case were hoping for a retrial. but some of the original evidence has been destroyed by the courts. as for maurice, he says he's just anxious to finally move on with his life. time now 6:47. moving onto sal to get you where you need to go this morning. lots to talk about, sal. there is a lot to talk about. unfortunately, this refinery fire has not yet effected and probably will not effect freeway traffic. so the freeway traffic shots are -- well, the freeway nearby is not effected. these are live pictures from news chopper 2. ktvu's allie rasmus is now on the scene there. and she will have something for us. she'll have -- she's been actually talking to people who

witnessed what went on this morning at the evergreen refinery in newark. again, this happened about an hour and a haling a now. maybe about an hour ago when we first got an the scene. traffic in the area's not effected unless you are on cherry or on smith in newark. there are other businesses nearby near evergreen oil. some of those people may be kept away from their businesses. we'll find out a little bit more about that. go out and take a look at the toll plaza here westbound bay bridge. the metering lights have been switched on. not a big delay i have to say. there is a delay of course but it's not huge just yet. and if you're driving on interstate 280 here in downtown san jose or interstate 880 in oakland the traffic is okay. just a reminder tonight there's a baseball game at the oakland coliseum where the giants and a's will play and best way to get there is public transportation. now let's go to steve. all right, sal, thank you. for those of you who loved yesterday's sun, kind of still higher clouds today. tomorrow though looks great for sunshine and warmer weather.

these higher clouds associated with a weak system brushing us to the north. we keep higher clouds in place today. temperatures slightly warmer, just a little bit. but tomorrow, sunshine, even warmer mid-70s and thursday we could be looking at record highs. some coming in near 80 degrees. the records on thursday were set in the upper 70s or low 80s. might be close. coliseum tonight mostly clear, nice, maybe a little breezy but not too bad. 56 a game time temperature should be all right. maybe a few high clouds. overall see the higher clouds coming down they'll thin over time but the system to the north is producing light rain in eureka, crescent city. end result for us higher clouds. by the end of the day we'll see more sun than clouds. lows in the 40s. mid to upper. mountain view 47. fairfield, concord and san jose all at 45 degrees. 42 napa and santa rosa. that's a big ridge high pressure coming in. big system deflected way to the north. warmer weather just kind of inching in yesterday and today. tomorrow we jump it up

wednesday, thursday and again possible record heat. what? yes. it's possible thursday. fair skies, mild temps, little warmer. but north bay gets in on a few more clouds. low 60s, mid-60s to a few upper 60s. a little bit of sunshine to get that if not it will be close and there's no doubt about it on tomorrow. wednesday and thursday look really warm. friday mostly sunny and warm. saturday and sunday we cool back down into the 60s. last hour we've learned more bad news on the housing market. the latest home price reports from 20 major cities shows housing prices dropped for the sixth month in a row. home values in atlanta, las vegas, detroit and cleveland are now below january 2000 levels. only washington d.c. saw a slight increase in home prices. all right. let's check in on how wall street is responding. so far not so bad considering. live look at the big board on

the new york stock exchange. dow jones down just about 15 points to 12,184. the nasdaq and s&p 500 also down just about the same percentage-wise. in the next half hour we're going to get two reports on consumer confidence. the michigan consumer sentiment index and confidence scores report come out at 7:00. both survey thousands of people to see how they're feeling about the economy. most economists expect consumer confidence to sink. a lot of that because of the increasing price of gas that's effecting everyone pretty much. all right. time now 6:51. still ahead we're still following that big fire at the oil refinery in newark. news chopper 2 is flying overhead. you're looking at some of the streets blocked off in the area. haven't heard of any injuries yet as we look at live pictures. but allie rasmus of ktvu is there on the scene talking to witnesses. we'll bring you all the details in a couple of minutes.

again, we're following breaking news from newark. news chopper 2 flying over the evergreen oil refinery plant this morning. it was a big fire this morning. a tremendous emergency response to it. we don't know many details. we haven't heard of evacuations or injuries.

any confirmed injuries, but the roads in the area around this and this is situated right near the bay have been blocked off. we're waiting for more details, ktvu's allie rasmus is on the scene right now. she's talking to people, gathering information as chopper 2 pans around the area. you can see how traffic has been blocked off right there. and they're keeping people away. but, again, there's an elementary school in the area and there are several homes as you can see. but we'll get you more details on this situation in newark as the information comes in. san jose police are looking for your help to find the person involved in a hit-and- run crash that injured a motorcycle officer. investigators say officer devlin craigon suffered head and arm injuries when he was thrown from his motorcycle yesterday afternoon. police say craigton turned on his lights to pull over a car near south first street in hall ma when another car turned in front of him and stopped.

creighton's motorcycle then ran into him. the car left the scene described as a light blue honda accord possibly built between 2004 and 2006. anyone with information is asked to call san jose police. time now 6:55. the f.b.i. now investigating after a pilot found a hole in the u.s. airways jet at the charlotte, north carolina, airport. it was discovered during the pilot's routine pre-flight inspection. the hole was towards the rear of the aircraft. you can only see it on the outside of the jet. the hole didn't go all the way through to the cabin. the boeing 737 was taken out of service. passengers were placed onto other flights. all right. it's coming up on 7:00. go back over to sal to check in on what you know about traffic and particularly newark, sal. that's right. we continue to have news chopper 2 in this area over newark. ktvu's allie rasmus is now on the scene speaking to witnesses and to the first responders. let you know more about this

developing news we have in newark with the refinery fire at the evergreen oil plant which is at the end of smith road. also the morning commute is going to be okay on 237 nearby crossing 880 dumbarton bridge not effected by any of this either heading to the peninsula. and at the bay bridge toll plaza not a bad commute. there's a small delay of course but it's not all that big. i guess that's redundant. 6:56. let's go to steve. all right, sal, we have higher clouds over us. temperatures in the 40s right now. end up with mid-60s, few upper 60s. did you really go 70 in antioch and morgan hill? i did. let's go with that for now. looks eastbound warmer as we head towards tomorrow and the next day. we'll have that coming up on mornings on 2. pam and dave.

thank you, steve. also coming up on mornings on 2 more on the hour's breaking news from the east bay. new information on that fire at a well-known refinery in newark. also we'll be live from san francisco. another big day in the barry bonds perjury trial. and a big name in sports will take the witness stand. stay right here with us.